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Trinidad and Tobago senior men’s volleyballer dropped to a 0-2 record in Pool A of the 19th Men’s Pan American Volleyball Cup after a straight sets loss to Costa Rica at Poliforum 2 de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos in Morelos, Mexico on Monday (August 10).
Beaten in their tournament-opeenr on Sunday by Canada, the Gideon Dickson-T&T men went under to Costa Rica 21-25, 19-25, 15-25 in 69 minutes.
Ignacio Sanchez had a team-high 16 points for the Costa Ricans who outscored T&T on kills 44-21, blocks 5-4 and service aces 6-1, while Gilbertho Solona added 16 points and Jeremy Antonio eight in the win with T&T getting a team-high nine points from captain Daynte Stewart, and five from Michael Burkett.
On Sunday (August 69) when the ten-nation tournament served off T&T put up a valiant effort before losing to Canada, also in straight sets, 20-25, 13-25, 19-25 in the opening match of the tournament.
The Pool A match began evenly, with T&T staying close on the scoreboard for much of the first set before Canada pulled away in the final points to take the lead in the match.
The Canadians delivered their strongest performance in the second set, applying pressure from the service line and showing greater effectiveness in attack to build a wide advantage and win it 25-13.
Trinidad and Tobago responded in the third and pulled within 20-19, but Canada delivered in the decisive moments to close out the match in straight sets.
Canada led the statistics with advantages of 37-23 in attacks, 6-2 in blocks and 8-2 in serves while the teams recorded an almost similar number of unforced errors, with Canada committing 25 and T&T 24.
For Canada, Jacob Sargent led the attack with 16 points and Daniil Hershtynovich contributed 12 while T&T got a team-high eight points ecah from Stewart and Burkett.
Speaking after the match, Stewart said, “I’m satisfied with the team’s performance. I think we gained a lot from the match. I think we could have played better, especially in the second set.”
“ We have a young team, so I’m not really disappointed with the performance. I think we did some good things, and we just have to be more consistent.”
Also on Sunday, USA also won their Pool A opener in straight sets on Sunday, 25-15, 26-24, 25-14 over Costa Rica while last night Canada faced Puerto Rico.
In Pool B matches on Saturday, the Dominican Republic edged Cuba 25-20, 24-26, 15-25, 25-23, 15-9 and Mexico defeated Curacao 25-22, 25-17, 25-14 while in late matches yesterday (Monday), Cuba faced Curacao and Mexico came up against Guatemala.
Today, T&T will have a rest day while Costa Rice meets Canada, and USA plays Puerto Rico while in Pool B, Guatemala faces Curacao and Mexico battles Dominican Republic.
T&T resumes pool play on Wednesday against USA from 2 pm while Puerto Rico faces Costa Rica, before Thursday’s final day of round-robin matches will see T&T meet Puerto Rico from 2 pm followed by USA and Canada at 4 pm.
Under the competition format, the winners of each pool advance directly to the semifinals, while the second- and third-place teams qualify for the quarterfinals.
The remaining teams will compete in classification matches to determine the final standings.
Today’s matches
Costa Rica vs Canada, 4 pm
USA vs Puerto Rico, 6 pm
Guatemala vs Curaçao, 8 pm
Mexico vs Dominican Republic, 10 pm
Tomorrow’s matches
USA vs T&T, 4 pm
Puerto Rico vs Costa Rica, 6 pm
Dominican Republic vs Curaçao, 8 pm
Cuba vs Guatemala, 10 pm
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