Morales and Alfaro shine under the sun in St Lucia

GROS ISLET, St Lucia, October 27, 2012 - With hot sun over their heads, the female teams started to play Saturday’s matches thinking about the finals with the morning being decisive for the next contests.

At the end of the long day, teams from Costa Rica, United States, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago-A made it into the semifinals of the Saint Lucia Beach Volleyball Tournament, the ninth stage of the 2012 NORCECA Circuit.

In Sunday’s semifinals, Costa Rica play Trinidad & Tobago-A while USA will battle neighbor Canada.

The first match between Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago-A saw Costa Ricans Ingrid Morales and Natalia Alfaro winning over Ayana Dyette and Elki Phillip by 2-0 (21–15, 21–11). The Central American duo then outdueled Canada’ Kristina Vlcek and Victoria Cowley by 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 15-11) in a 54-minute battle to reach the semifinals.

Katryn Babcock and Tracilyn Weamer, the USA combo, won by 2-0 (21–9, 21–12) against Antigua’s duo of Tessa Payne and Rosemary Joseph Simon. They advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) win over Dominican Republic’s Debora Constanzo and Karla Montilla.

Canada’s Vlcek/Cowley started the day with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) triumph over St Lucia-A team of Samantha Mann and Dania Hamilton in a disputed match. After losing to Costa Rica they were able to recover by defeating 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) the Trinidad & Tobago-B pair of Nancy Joseph and Pauline Woodroffe.

Following their lost to Costa Rica, the Trinidadians Dyette/Phillip went on to win 2-0 (21-11, 21-18) over the local girls Mann/Hamilton and then battled to prevail against Dominicans Constanzo/Montilla by 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 15-7).

Women’s results of Saturday: CAN d LCA-A 2-0 (21-17, 21-15), CRC d TRI-A 2-0 (21-15, 21-11), DOM d SKN 2-0 (21-13, 21-5), USA d ANT 2-0 (21-9, 21-12), TRI-A d ISV 2-0 (21-16, 21-14), LCA-A d FSM 2-1 (13-21, 21-16, 15-12), TRI-B d ANT 2-0 (21-16, 22-20), VIN d SKN 2-1 (24-26, 21-17, 15-13), CRC d CAN 2-1 (18-21, 21-14, 15-11), USA d DOM 2-0 (21-11, 21-18), TRI-A d LCA-A 2-0 (21-11, 21-8), TRI-B d VIN 2-0 (21-12, 21-11), TRI-A d DOM 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 15-7), CAN d TRI-B 2-0 (21-12, 21-19).