TT volleyballers taste defeat

Trinidad and Tobago volleyballers Nolan Tash and Sean Morrison lost to Puerto Ricans Hernandez and Papaleo in the opening round of the Pan American Games Beach Volleyball competition in Santo Domingo yesterday.

Tash and Morrison, teaming up for the first ever in a competition, were outclassed 7-21, 10-21 by the much more experienced Puerto Ricans.  This was the first time that TT had sent a two-member team to vie for honours at the quadrennial championships. Trinidad and Tobago are bracketed in the group with the gold medal favourites United States of America, Puerto Rico and Paraguay. In other results, Cuban duo of Alvarez and Rossell whipped El Salvador’s pair of Vargas and Medrano 21-12, 21-12 while Canada’s Ljubicic and Slean beat Cayman Islands’ Rankin and Thomson 21-11 and 21-9. However, there was a big scare for the highly favoured Brazilian tandem of Silva and DeJesus who were extended to three sets by the Dominican Republic’s Cabral and Flores. Meanwhile, in the team competition and on the indoor arena hard court, the Brazilian women squad signaled their intention of winning the coveted gold when they overpowered the vaunted United States of America team in a tense and entertaining showdown. However, the American men team coasted to a comfortable 25-15, 25-21 and 25-15 win over CAZOVA champions Barbados.