The Dominican men’s team defeated the US and Canadian teams in matches in Boca Chica, but failed to win a medal in the semi-finals in the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (Norceca) Beach Volleyball tournament held last weekend in Boca Chica. The DR team of Luis Adames and German Recio bettered their counterparts from the US, Evan Engle and Stafford Slick in 42 minutes. The final scores: 21-19 and 21-19. The Dominican pair had first defeated Canada’s Martin Reader and Josh Binstock in three sets (15-21, 21-18, 15-9)
Puerto Rico’s Roberto “Rafu” Rodriguez and Orlando Irizarry won gold in the tournament, defeating Canada’s Josh Binstock and Martin Reader 23-21, 16-21, 15-13 on Sunday. It was the third victory in a row for Rodriguez who succeeded in the two previous events of the 2012 Norceca Circuit at Cayman Islands and Guatemala playing along with Erick Haddock and Pablo Guzman respectively.
In the semifinal phase, Rodriguez/Irizarry beat Dominican Republic’s German Recio and Luis Adames 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) while Binstock/Reader needed three sets to overcome Puerto Rico’s Haddock and Guzman 2-1 (21-19, 18-21, 15-5).
The men’s bronze medal went to Guzman/Haddock who out dueled Recio/Adames in a three-setter of 55 minutes by score of 17-21, 21-17, 15-9.