Virgen and Ontiveros seek third gold in a row

TOLUCA, Mexico, June 4, 2013 – Mexicans Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen will be seeking for a third men’s consecutive victory in the 2013 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit when the stars of the sand get back into action at the double-gender Toluca Tournament, the fourth competition of the year.

The feat has been accomplished three times in the history of the circuit, twice by Virgen combined with Aldo Miramontes in 2009 and 2010 and by Puerto Rican Roberto Rodriguez with three different partners in 2012.

Ontiveros and Virgen will be also defending champions in Toluca as they won last year’s gold by defeating Cubans Karell Peña and Sergio Gonzalez (21-15, 21-19) who will be again among the contenders here.

With 18 gold medals to his credit, Virgen is the all-time leader in victories, followed by countryman Miramontes, now paired with Ulises Ontiveros, with 14 and the Cuban Gonzalez with 8. Puerto Rican Roberto Rodriguez, who will be partnering with Hector Soto this time, is next with six.

In the women’s side, Mexico’s Bibi Candelas, who took the gold last year playing along Mayra Garcia, will be defending her throne playing with new partner Martha Revuelta whom she defeated with Vanessa Virgen 21-15, 21-11 in 2012.

The Mexican Candelas is currently tied with the now retired Garcia and Puerto Rican Yarleen Santiago for the women’s all-time record of gold medals with a total of nine.

Fifteen men’s pairs and Fifteen women’s duos have been registered to take part in the fourth stop of the year, following the tournaments of Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic and Guatemala.

Men’s teams:

Aruba (Eargenell DeCuba/Mitchel Daniel), Bahamas (Byron Ferguson/Princtanique Wilson), Barbados (Hugh Sealey/Darn Gill), Canada-A (Grant O’Gorman/Sam Pedlow), Canada-B (Simon Fecteau-Boutin/Ryan DeBruyn), Costa Rica (Esteban Escobar/Jonathan Guevara), Cuba (Karell Peña/Sergio Gonzalez), Dominican Republic (Luis Castillo/Alex Medina), Mexico-A (Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen), Mexico-B (Aldo Miramontes/Ulises Ontiveros), Nicaragua (Dany Lopez/Gerson Contreras), Puerto Rico (Roberto Rodríguez/Héctor Soto), Trinidad & Tobago (Simon Blake/Daneil Williams), United States-A (Bradley Keenan/John Mayer), United States-B (Casey Jennings/Stafford Slick).

Women’s teams:

Canada-A (Kacie MacTavish/Caleigh Whitaker), Canada-B (Alexandra Woodley/Sophie Bukovec), Cayman Islands (Cristin Alexander/Jessica Wolfenden), Costa Rica (Ingrid Morales/Natalia Alfaro), Curacao (Christine Anthony/Samira Luis), Dominican Republic (Diana Peguero/Nairobi Agramonte), El Salvador (Diana Romero/Marcela Ávalos), Honduras (Gina Flores/Martha Euceda), México-A (Bibiana Candelas/Martha Revuelta), México-B (Vanessa Virgen/Stephanie Burnside), México-C (Olivia Mesa/Zaira Orellana) ,Nicaragua (Elia Torres/Swan Mendoza), Trinidad & Tobago (Nancy Joseph/Patricia Woodrofe), United States-A (Heather Hughes/Summer Ross), United States-B (Whitney Pavlik/Emily Day).