Woodruffe girls impress in B’dos

The Woodruffe sisters, in their first outing as a team, played encouragingly but still lost in straight sets 21-7, 21-11 to the experienced Canadian duo of Cindy Phillips and Karen Sutherland.

The Barbadian pair of Lauren Whitehall and Sharon Bovell picked up third place in the women’s competition after they beat Guadeloupe’s Melanie Deband and Marie Villa in straight sets.

In the men’s competition, defending champs Phillipe Pignol and Robin Darchicourt of Guadeloupe were dethroned as they lost their final to Americans Michael Dipierro and Steve Grotowski.

Starting as favourites to retain their title, Pignol and Darchicourt were completely outplayed by the American opponents in straight sets, 21-16, 21-16. TT’s Nolan Tash, an outstanding attacker for his country in the last Caribbean Volleyball Championships, teamed up with Barbadian national captain Elwyn Oxley to beat the Barbadian pair of Shane Mark and Winston Gittens in the third place play off.