AYANA DYETTE and Nancy Joseph finished in seventh position in the Central American and the Caribbean (CAC) Beach Volleyball Tournament on Saturday night in Veracruz, Mexico. There were also 16 pairs in the men’s competition and fellow Trinidad and Tobago players Fabian Whitfield and Daneil Williams ended up 11th.
After losing in the quarterfinals the day before, Joseph and Dyette began a playoff for fifth place, but were beaten 21-19, 21-11 in 36 minutes by the pair from Guatemala and then defeated a duo from St Kitts/Nevis 21-18, 23-21 in just under half-hour for seventh. This country’s top-ranked women ended the tournament just like they started it as they beat pairs from Barbados and Honduras on Wednesday to book their place in the last eight.
Dyette and Joseph, unbeaten from eight tournaments at home this year, came up against tournament favourites Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas of Mexico the next day and lost in straight sets in the battle to determine the group winners.
And in Friday’s quarters, they also failed to win a set against another seeded pair, Karen Cope and Natalia Alfaro of Costa Rica. Dyette, competing in her second straight CAC Games, finished in the top three in three of the individual categories.
The attacking player was second in total points with 96, just two behind Pamela Jaime of the Dominican Republic. Dyette also had 22 winners to place third in the service category and she also finished third in kills with 74, just four less than leader Revuelta.
After crushing Christopher Walters and Ryck McKenzte 21-9, 21-12 when the tournament served off Wednesday, Williams and Whitfield were nosed out 21-17, 11-21, 16-14 in 46 minutes by the Jamaicans in their first match in the playoff for ninth place on Saturday.
However the “Toco Boys”, who picked up this country’s only NORCECA (North, Central America and the Caribbean) medal when notched bronze in the Trinidad leg of the 2012 circuit, rebounded to deny the pair from the Dominican Republic 21-19, 21-12 in 35 minutes for 11th place. It was the first CAC Games for Whitfield and Williams, but the second for their teammates.
It could have been the third straight for Joseph, who made her debut at this level alongside Andrea Davis in 2006 in Colombia. The former nominee for Sportswoman of the Year was heavily favoured to make the team – with the assistance of Elki Philip – four years later, but she was injured just before the qualifying tournament and Dyette and Nadiege Honore competed in Puerto Rico.