T&T's top men and women beach volleyball duos, Daneil Williams and Daynte Stewart, and Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman, will be targeting ninth spot when the fifth stop of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit concludes at Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, on Sunday.
In the ninth to 12th semifinal from 10 am this morning, Williams and Stewart will come up against Carlos Escobar and David Vargas while Colombians Sneider Rivas and Sebastian Denis battle Costa Ricans Bryan Monge and Richard Smith in the other semifinal.
The winners will face off for the ninth spot from 3 pm while the losers meet at 2 pm.
Yesterday when action resumed, with group stage matches, Williams and Stewart fell to Canada's Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter 11-21, 12-21 to end as runner-up in Pool B with a 1-1 record.
When tournament served off on Friday, Williams and Stewart swept whipped Jamaicans Triston Hitchman and Noley Ferguson 21-11, 21-10 and Pedlow and Schacter defeated the Jamaicans, 21-13, 21-11.
With a spot in the quarterfinals at stake, Williams and Stewart went under to Mexico's Josue Gaxiola and Jose Luis Rubio, 18-21, 9-21 in their round-of-12 playoff.
In Pool F, Joel Theodore and Marlon Phillip missed out on advancing to the round-of-12 after losing their must-win match with Arubans, Fransua Angela and Darvick Anthony, 13-21, 16-21.
On Friday, Theodore and Phillip were beaten by Cubans, Enrique Reyes and Karell Pina, 19-21, 9-21, but rebounded to defeat El Salvadoreans, Carlos Escobar and David Vargas, 19-21, 21-16, 15-11.
The Cubans topped the pool with a 3-0 record while T&T, Aruba and El Salvador all ended with 1-1 records. However, Escobar and Vargas advanced based on a better points difference ratio of 122-120, to T&T's 112-132 and Aruba's 92-113.
Theodore and Phillip then came up short against US Virgin Islands' Dillon Lesniak and Hylas Smith, 16-21, 12-21 yesterday in the consolation quarterfinals and tackled Bahamians, Jon Isaacs and Kyle Wilson for the 17th spot last night.
In the women's competition, Grant and Blackman were overpowered by Mexico's Martha Revuelta and Zaira Orellana, 10-21, 16-21 in their round-of-12 encounter and will meet Colombians, Ingrid Lopez and Claudia Polo in their ninth to 12th semifinal while Angjeny Tolentino and Christine Anthony of Curacao faces St Kitts/Nevis' Shanicia Dyer and Brenda Allen-Edinborough in the other.
On Friday, Grant and Blackman enjoyed a straight sets win, 21-11, 21-14 over US Virgin Islands' Cristina Almeida-Anz and Melanie Valenciana in Pool A before losing the pool decider with Canada's Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, 8-21, 6-21.
Bansley and Wilkerson powered past Almeida-Anz and Valenciana 21-7, 21-11 in their first match.
The other T&T women's pair of La Teisha Joseph and Suraya Chase came up against El Salvadoreans, Kathya Vasquez and Fernanda Vargas in the 13th to 15th semifinal last night while, Natalia Giron and Estefanie Bethancourt of Guatemala tangled with Bianca Torres and Alexandra Rivera of Puerto Rico in the other ahead of today's final matches.
This after Chase and Joseph were outplayed by Revuelta and Orellana 11-21, 8-21 in their final Pool F match before a 14-21, 18-21 loss to US Virgin Islands' Cristina Almeida-Anz and Melanie Valenciana, in their consolation quarterfinals.
On Friday, Chase and Joseph fell to Giron and Bethancourt 10-21, 17-21, and Tolentino and Anthony, 12-21, 13-21, in their first two pool matches.
At stake for all participating teams representing more than 15 countries, is points towards qualification for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.