Puerto Rican team brings home the bronze medal – Volleyball news
The female duo of Yarleen Santiago and Yamileska Yantin represented Puerto Rico at the 2012 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit Tournament, which completed its run from March 23-25.
The double gender competition was hosted by Grand Cayman Island. In the women’s competition, Puerto Rican team got hold of third position. They defeated American Jennifer Snyder and Heather Hughes in classification match on Sunday, March 25. The final sets
scores of the bronze medal match were 2-0 (21-16, 21-19).
The Caribbean pairing of Santiago and Yantin exhibited a spectacular performance throughout the tournament. They remained undefeated in the opening round of the tournament but suffered the setback on day 2.
Santiago/ Yantin opened the tournament on Friday, March 23 with an incredible feat. In the first pool-play match, the duo was challenged by Jamaican team that consisted of Cherine Richards and Cheryl Daley. Puerto Rican easily managed to put off the opponents
and finished the match in straight sets of 2-0 (21-13, 21-6).
After beating the Jamaican team, the duo carried the momentum into the second pool-play match on the same day. They went against Sharon Payne and Rosemarie Simon of Antigua in the next match and performed amazingly well. The Antiguan duo received 0-2 (16-21,
6-21) defeat in the match, while Puerto Rico extended its winning streak to 2-0.
Success in the preliminary robin round of the 2012 NORCECA Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament enabled Santiago/ Yantin to advance to the quarterfinals, where they were joined by teams from Trinidad & Tobago, America, and Canada. The quarterfinals were held
on Saturday, March 24 at the Grand Cayman Island.
In the first fixture of quarter-final stage, Puerto Rico downed Trinidad by posting 2-0 (21-14, 21-17) on board. The team from Trinidad was labelled as underdog and could not resist to strong Puerto Rican duo. With one victory in hand, the duo entered the
Main-Draw, where it faced the American Jennifer Snyder and Heather Hughes. They edged out Puerto Rico in three-set match and sent the Caribbean team to first defeat in the tournament. Eventually Puerto Rico was forced to appear in the third match, in order
to qualify for the semis.
However, Santiago/ Yantin made a comeback in the third match and defeated Canada’s Jamie Broder and Victoria Altomare. Success against Canadian team allowed Puerto Rico to enter the final four of 2012 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tournament.
The final four matches took place on Sunday, March 25. Puerto Rico crossed ways with the strongest team of the tournament. The Mexico-2 defeated Crushed Puerto Rico’s hopes to play in the finals. Garcia/ Candelas of Mexico defeated Santiago/ Yantin in the
first semi-final.
Puerto Rico was joined by Americans in the bronze medal match as they also received defeat in second semi-final.
Nonetheless, Puerto Rico managed to beat U.S. pair in the classification match and finally returned home with bronze-ware.
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