T&T Calypso Spikers made a losing start to the 12th Movistar Women’s Pan American Volleyball Cup after going under to world top ranked and defending champions USA in their opening match 13-25, 12-25, 13-25, the second of Pool A at Coliseo Miguel Grau, Callao, Peru, on Monday night. With T&T coach, Cuban-born Francisco Cruz giving some rest to the key trio of Channon Thompson, Kelly-Anne Billingy and captain Krystle Esdelle to start the match and each set, it was always going to be a daunting task for the the five-team reigning Caribbean champions who were eventually overpowered by the Americans, in blockings (13-4) and service aces (9-0) in the loss which came in 59 minutes.
Lauren Gibbenmeyer led USA with 11 points, including three blocks, captain Kristin Hildebrand added ten, Nicole Fawcett had six aces among her nine points and Rachel Adams had eight points with four blocks. The loss was the first for T&T in international competition since a 25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-6 defeat to Costa Rica in ninth placed playoff last July 19, at the Pan Am Cup in Toluca, Mexico. Since then, the “Calypso Spikers” won the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association crown for a fourth straight time in US Virgin Islands and topped their first and second round FIVB Women’s World Championship 2014 qualifying groups. Speaking after the match, Poland-based Esdelle who is one of no fewer than seven players with injury concerns said her team-mates were a little nervous playing against a team like USA whose fast rhythm was new for her team.”
Cruz added, ““It was not surprising for us given the quality of USA as major powerhouse.” “Overall I am satisfied with the performance and we gave playing opportunity to some young players,” added Cruz. Today the 32nd world ranked T&T will close out round-robin play against with 18th ranked Puerto Rico after facing 19th ranked Argentina last night in its second match.
In the other Pool A match, Argentina also had a straight-set 25-23, 25-21, 25-15 victory over Puerto Rico led by Paula Nizetich with 14 points followed by Lucia Fresco and Emilce Sosa with 11 and ten respectively. Josefina Fernandez and Natalia Aispirua contributed nine and eight for the winners while Lynda Morales finished with a team-high nine points for Puerto Rico
In Pool B, four-time champions, Cuba, ranked 13th, recovered from a 0-2 deficit to overcome 22nd ranked Canada 21-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-13 and Peru, rated 17th in the world began its participation beating 26thn ranked Costa Rica 25-19, 25-18, 25-16 in a match of Group B that lasted 76 minutes. And in Pool C, two-time winner Dominican Republic prevailed in four sets to defeat three-time champions and three-time runner-up Brazil, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 35-33 in a match that lasted more than two hours while Mexico defeated Colombia 25-18, 25-23, 25-16, both at the “Mayor Fernando Antonio Suarez Coliseum, Huacho.
Today’s schedule:
Group A: Puerto Rico vs T&T, 7 pm; USA vs Argentina, 9 pm.
Group B: Peru vs Cuba, 8 pm; Canada vs Costa Rica, 10 pm.
Group C: Dominican Republic vs Mexico, 7 pm; Brazil vs Colombia, 9 pm.