Puerto Ricans Allanis Navas and María González defeated Mexicans Katherine Albarrán and Atenas Gutiérrez to claim the gold medal at the NORCECA U23 Women’s Beach Volleyball Qualifier to the Junior Pan American Games.
Navas/González, considered the pre-tournament favourites, scored a 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) victory living up to the expectations.
In the semifinals, Navas/Gonzalez subdued Canada’s Becky Tresham and Kaylee Glagau 2-0 (21-15, 21-16) while Albarrán/Gutiérrez upset Cuba’s Lázara Madán and Dayani Zequeira 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) in 31 minutes.
The bronze medal went to Canada’s Tresham/Glagau who edged Cubans Madán/Zequeira 2-1 (21-13, 17-21, 15-6).
Cubans Luis Reyes and Noslen Diaz were the champions of the NORCECA U23 Men’s Beach Volleyball Qualifier to the Junior Pan American Games
Reyes/Diaz claimed the gold medal following their 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) victory over Mexico’s Miguel Sarabia and Raymond Stephens in just 34 minutes.
In the semifinals, Reyes/Díaz defeated Nicaragua’s Solis and Denis Lopez 2-0 (21-17, 21-10) while Sarabia/Stephens beat Puerto Rico’s William Rivera and Randall Santiago 2-0 (21-16, 21-17).
The bronze medal went to Puerto Ricans Rivera/Santiago who won the third-place contest over Nicaragua’s Solis/Lopez by scores of 2-0 (21-8, 21-18).
The teams qualified were:
Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Costa Rica in both genders, the women’s teams of Canada and Guatemala and the men’s of Nicaragua and Dominican Republic.