By Nigel Simon T&T Guardian

Top ranked local pair, Ayana Dyette and Malika Davidson played unbeaten in their three matches as T&T advanced to the main draw semifinals of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Women’s Continental Cup Tournament.

 Teams from several countries are participating in the Second Round qualifiers to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games featuring the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) and Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) on Friday at Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Third placed finishers when Round One qualifiers were held at the same Jamaica venue last May, T&T brushed aside ECVA’s Grenada 3-0 in its main draw round-of-16 opener before defeating another ECVA team, Antigua & Barbuda 3-1 to set up a semifinal meeting with host county, Jamaica yesterday while Barbados battled French St Martin, in the other.

Against Grenada, veteran Dyette and Davidson (T&T-A), who were not part of the T&T women’s four-team first team which ended with a bronze medal, swept aside Grenada-B’s Shakira Collymore and Deanne John 21-15, 21-12 for a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five team series.

The T&T-B duo of Apphia Glasgow and La Teisha Joseph made it 2-0 via their equally as impressive defeat of Grenada-A’s Thornia Williams and Renisha Stafford 21-16, 21-10 before Glasgow and Joseph also defeated Collymore and John of Grenada-B, 21-8, 21-9 to complete the straight forward win.

However, against Antigua & Barbuda, the T&T women under the supervision of coach David Thomas Jr, was made to work a little more for their win, 3-1.

Dyette and Davidson A took down Natasha Best/Naheemah Wilson (Antigua & Barbuda-B), 21-10, 21-9 to level the match at 1-1 after Nyota Peters and Rosemarie Simon (Antigua & Barbuda-A) stunned Glasgow and Joseph 24-22, 18-21, 15-11.

The T&T team of Dyette and Davidson restored their team lead at 2-1 when they scolded Peters and Simon 21-10, 21-8 while Glasgow and Joseph redeemed themselves with a 21-15, 21-12 victory over Best and Wilson to complete the win and a place in the semifinals.

CAZOVA first round zonal phase winners Jamaica advanced to the semifinals after beating Suriname by 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

Alicia Malcolm with partner Sasha-Lee Wallen of Jamaica-B defeated both Suriname’s Cheryl Brunings/Sandrina Hunsel (SUR-A) in a tight 21-17, 23-21 win and Chagnaz Fränkel/Chavelli Wip (SUR-B) 21-18, 21-10 while Jamaica- A team, Kai Wright/Danielle Perry defeated Fränkel and Wip 21-10, 21-17.

Suriname had brushed aside St Kitts/Nevis 3-0 in their round-of-16 meeting to reach the last-eight against Jamaica, which like Antigua & Barbuda, Cayman Islands and St Lucia were handed opening round byes due to their top two finish in their respective zonal qualifiers last May. 

In the other main draw quarterfinal, Barbados crushed Dominica 3-1 and followed up with an emphatic win over ECVA zonal phase champions St Lucia, 3-0 to reach the last four versus surprise team, French St Martin, which ousted CAZOVA duo, US Virgin Islands (3-1) and Cayman Islands (3-0) in their two matches.

In addition to yesterday’s main draw semifinals, the losers of their matches on Friday also had a chance to finish among the top eight to earn a Third Round qualifying NORCECA spot via the loser’s elimination bracket.

Overall, the Inter zonal phase features 12 teams, CAZOVA’S top six (Jamaica, Cayman Islands, T&T, Barbados, Suriname and US Virgin Islands) and the top ECVA representatives (St Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, French St Martin, St Kitts & Nevis, Dominica and Grenada).

The eight finalists will advance to the third phase in May at El Salvador to play against the top four countries from the Central American Volleyball Association (AFECAVOL) zonal phase tournament.

The tournament concludes today 9.40am (8.40am TT time) with the playoffs for positions eighth up to the gold medal match at 2.40pm (1.40pm TT time).

For more on this story go to: http://www.guardian.co.tt/sport/2016-01-31/dyette-davidson-lead-tt-beach-v-ball-semis