Varadero.- THE MAIN Cuban pairs of José Luis Alayo-Noslen Díaz and Maykelín Drik-Amanda Armenteros will discuss the semifinals against Puerto Rico in the second phase of the 2024 Norceca Beach Volleyball Circuit, which ends this Sunday here.
Both host couples led the qualifying groups A undefeated with four wins each.
The Villa Clara-Artemisa tandem will face Arnaldo Torres and William Rivera starting at 11:45 in the morning. Simultaneously, on the neighboring court, Evan Cory and Robert Harrison will compete against James Drost and Cody Caldwell, duos from the United States.
In the women’s branch, starting at 12:30 pm, Armenteros and Drik will face Allanis Navas and María González, champions of the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador 2023, who also won their four matches in the key C of the current fight.
The other semifinal match will begin at the same time between the Americans Hailey Harward-Kylie Kuyava DeBerg and Savannah Simo and Abby Van Winkle, precisely gold and bronze, in that order, in the first stop of this tourheld on Güibia beach, in Santo Domingo.
In that phase Allanis and María were left with the bronze medal, after they dominated the Cuban representatives in the semifinals, that is, the four pairs are the same ones that occupied the first places just a month ago.
In the quarterfinals Alayo and Noslen added their fifth win in a row by beating Arran Chambers and Robert Kemp (CAN-1) in 36 minutes in two sets (21-16, 21-14).
For their part, the Puerto Ricans Torres and Rivera (second in batch D with a 3-1 record) had to resort to all their resources to defeat Rouzbeh Rahnavard-Tynan Gannett (CAN-2) in a clash that extended to tie-breaker (21-19, 17-21, 15-13) in almost an hour of action.
Cory and Harrison dominated Tyler Penberthy and Bryce Mayer (ISV-2) 2-0 (21-14, 23-21), while Drost and Caldwell defeated Garrett Bucklin and Robert Cronshaw (ISV-1), also by sweep (21-18, 21-15) in the quarterfinal round itself.
In that instance among the ladies, Drik and Armenteros defeated Darby Dunn and Myriam (CAN-1) 2-0 (21-10, 21-17); Simo and Van Winkle (USA-1) beat Marie-Alex Bélanger-Lea Monkhouse (CAN-2) 2-0 (21-5, 21-16); Navas and González beat Julibeth Payano and Crismil Paniagua (DOM) 2-0 (21-10, 21-7) and Harward-DeBerg (USA-2) beat Danna Aguilar-Naomi Monney (GUA) 2-0 (21-8, 21-15).
The second Cuban duo, formed by Kailin Garrido and Yenifer Rivera, will contest the ninth seat this Sunday against Amber Bennett and Taylor Buckner (ISV-2).
For the same position in the men’s division, Guantanamo’s Damián Gómez and Eblis Veranes will fight against the Salvadoran twins Christopher and Yoel Guardado.
Another home duo that also debuted internationally, composed of Selena Spek and Mileidy Paret, will compete with Shanicia Dyer and Shajunee (SKN) for 15th place.
