Havana, May 4 (JIT)-- The Cuban duo of Jorge Luis Alayo and Noslen Díaz led the island's representation undefeated in the opening of the second phase of the 2024 Norceca Beach Volleyball Circuit, which takes place in the renowned Varadero spa.

Our main duo scored the first wins against Joshua Dwarkasing-David Pinas (Suriname-1) in two sets (21-8, 21-10), and Garret Bucklin-Robert Cronshaw (Virgin Islands-1) by 2-0 (21 -14, 21-12).

This Saturday they will face the Guatemalans José Izaguirre-Luis García, and the twins from El Salvador, Christopher and Yoel Guardado, against whom they are favorites to complete dominance of group A and advance to the quarterfinals.

His teammates, newcomers Damián Gómez and Eblis Veranes, had an encouraging international debut, extending the duels against quality rivals such as the Canadians Arran Chambers-Robert Kemp, and the Americans James Drost-Cody Caldwell to a tie-break.

The first match ended with partials of 21-17, 19-21 and 15-13 in 51 minutes of action, and the other 21-19, 15-21 and 17-15 in almost an hour. The Guantanamo team scored success in the B key against the Surinamese Naarden and Sporkslede by 2-0 (21-10, 21-11).

In the women's event, Amanda Armenteros and Maykelín Drik (Cuba-1), after being bye in group A, beat Charles/Austin (ISV-1) 2-0 (21-9, 21-12).

They will try to remain undefeated when they compete this Saturday with the Salvadorans Keiry Guzmán-Dana Funes, and the Guatemalans Naomi Monney-Danna Aguilar.

In group B, the champions of the previous phase, Hailey Harward-Kylie DeBerg (USA-2) defeated Kailin Garrido and Yenifer Rivera (CUB-2) 2-0 (21-18, 21-12).

Then the hosts destroyed the Canadians Darby Dunn and Myriam Robitaille in a tie-break (13-21, 26-24, 15-12). He also added another victory by no-show at the Trinidad and Tobago event.

In group C, Puerto Ricans María González and Allanis Navas, gold in the Central Caribbean Games in San Salvador 2023 and silver in the previous stop of this circuit, dominated Selena Spek and Mileidy Paret (CUB-3) 2-0 (21 -9, 21-4).

The other setback for these new players was against Savannah Simo-Abby Van Winkle (USA-1) by 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) and they achieved victory over the Surinamese Tammenga-Soedamahde by a 21-11 sweep and 21-15.

Today the matches in each bracket are completed to define which couples advance to the quarterfinals, a round that will be played after noon. The semifinals in both genders and the medal discussion are scheduled for Sunday.