This country’s senior national men’s volleyball team will serve off its title bid at the Seventh Men’s Pan American Cup against host Dominican Republic from 7 pm tonight at the Pan American Sports Complex, Santo Domingo. The Group A meeting between the 33rd world ranked T&T and 43rd ranked Dominican Republic will be the second in three months after the latter defeated the “Calypso Spikers” 25-21, 22-25, 27-25, 25-19 at the Norceca Olympic Qualifiers in Long Beach, California in May where T&T placed seventh.
The Nolan Tash-captained T&T squad will meet eighth world ranked Argentina tomorrow from 1 pm before closing out group play against 18th ranked Canada on Wednesday from 3 pm. Today, Argentina and Canada will meet in the eight-team tournament opener from 1 pm, while in Group B, four-time champion and reigning Olympic gold medal winner USA, currently ranked sixth in the world, faces 16th ranked Venezuela from 3 pm. Two hours later, top ranked team and defending champion Brazil battles Mexico (No 23). T&T will be making its fourth appearance at the Pan Am Cup, having finished in sixth spot in its three previous appearances (2006 to 2008).
USA is the most successful team in the tournament having won in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, while Mexico was the other winner in 2007. At the end of the two groups round robin series, the pool winners will advance directly to the semifinals while the teams placed second and third will clash in cross-over quarterfinal matches on July 12. The semifinals and finals will be played on July 13 and 14. The eight-team competition will qualify the best ranked team, not already included in the 2013 FIVB World League, to the 2012 WL Qualification Tournament later this year.
T&T men's volleyball squad:
Sean Morrison, Nolan Tash (captain), Marc-Anthony Honore, Ryan Mahadeo, Jessel Davis, Christian Francois, Saleem Ali, Brandon Legall, Joshua Mohammed, Ryan Stewart, Simon Blake, Akim Bushe.
Technical staff: Gideon Dickson (coach), David Camacho (assistant coach), Arthur Robinson (trainer)
SCHEDULE
Pool A
Today
Argentina vs Canada, 1pm
Dominican Republic vs T&T, 7pm
Tomorrow
Argentina vs T&T, 1pm
Dominican Republic vs Canada, 7pm
Wednesday
Canada vs T&T, 3pm
Dominican Republic vs Argentina, 7pm
Pool B
Today
Brazil vs Mexico, 3pm
USA vs Venezuela, 5pm
Tomorrow
USA vs Mexico, 3pm
Brazil vs Venezuela, 5pm
Wednesday
Venezuela vs Mexico, 1pm
Brazil vs USA, 5pm
Thursday
Quarterfinals:
2nd B vs 3rd A
2nd A vs 3rd B
Friday
Classification Fifth to Eighth
Semifinals
Saturday
Classification Seventh to Eighth
Classification Fifth to Sixth
Third place
Final
Source: www.guardian.co.tt