T&T fell to a 0-2 record at the Second Under-23 Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup following a 12-25, 25-27, 14-25 loss to Dominic Republic at the Palacio De Los Deportes, Ciudad Deportiva, La Habana, Cuba on Monday. Despite the loss, it was a much improved performance by the Gideon Dickson-coached T&T which was swept aside in its opener against host Cuba, 14-25, 12-25, 10-25 on Sunday night. The Brandon Legall-led T&T men surprised the favourites in the second set and even held a four-point lead and set point, Dominican Republic still won in relatively quick time, 69 minutes.
This after dominating on spikes (30-18), service aces (8-3), and committing less errors, 25 to its opponent, 34 while both teams tallied five blocks each. For the Dominican Republic which swept El Salvador in its opener by a 3-0 margin as well, Luis Adames was once again its top scorer with 13 points and Luis Rodriguez added 12, while Legall led T&T with 12 and Nicholas Prescott and Joel Thedore added six and four respectively.
Speaking after the match Dickson stated that “regardless of the result, he saw his team play better than against Cuba. “In the second set, particularly the inexperience of the setter was what cost us the victory when they were not able to score the key points. I felt quite disappointed because when the team reached the twenties they had a 4-point lead and in stead of assuring to win the set their form drooped off. Even I had to ask for two time-out periods.” Legall added, “We evaluated the match against Cuban and we came out really willing to score a win. I think we started well in comparison to the previous match, but unfortunately we lost a great chance to win that set.”
In the two other matches played in the six-team competition, Mexico cruised past El Salvador winning 25-18, 25-9, 25-12 and Cuba whipped Guatemala 25-14, 25-12, 25-10 as both teams joined Dominican Republic with 2-0 records in the hunt for the two tickets granted by the II U-23 Pan American Men’s Volleyball Cup for the FIVB World Championship next year.
Yesterday, T&T faced Guatemala while Dominican Republic battled Mexico and Cuba entertained El Salvador. Today, T&T meets Mexico while El Salvador comes up against Guatemala and Cuba and Dominican Republic face off ahead of tomorrow’s final round of round-robin matches, at the end of the round-robin phase, the top two teams will play for gold. The third and fourth placed round-robin finishers will contest the bronze medal match, and fifth and sixth for fifth.
Schedule
Today
Mexico vs T&T, 3pm
El Salvador vs Guatemala, 5pm
Cuba vs Dominican Republic, 7pm
Tomorrow
El Salvador vs T&T, 3pm
Dominican Republic vs Guatemala, 5pm
Cuba vs Mexico, 7pm
Friday
Final playoffs
Fifth place playoff: Fifth vs Sixth, 3pm
Third place playoff: Third vs Fourth, 5pm
Finals: First vs Second, 7pm.
