COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States took home four medals from the NORCECA Pigeon Point tournament this past weekend, a pair of gold and bronze in the last regular-season event of the Tour.
Earning gold were Stafford Slick/Mark Burik and Caitlin Ledoux/Emily Stockman. Taking home bronze were Emily Day/Irene Pollock and Ryan Doherty/John Mayer.
For the second consecutive year, the U.S. earned both gold and bronze on the women’s podium in St. Lucia, and back-to-back gold on the men’s side.
Caitlin Ledoux and Emily Stockman defeated Karen Cope Charles and Natalia Alfaro of Costa Rica in the women’s finale, 21-19, 21-13. In the first set, the U.S. had a seven-point lead, 16-9, but saw the Costa Ricans pull back into it before they could close the frame. In the second, the Americans held the advantage for the set and title.
Ledoux and Stockman made their way to the final after finishing 2-1 in pool play and defeating Canada in two sets in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the duo had a rematch with their fellow compatriots Emily Day/Irene Pollock, who topped them in pool play, 25-23, 19-21, 15-8. This time around, Ledoux/Stockman got the victory, winning 21-19, 22-20.
Day and Pollock were 3-0 in pool play and the pair earned a decisive win against Honduras in the quarterfinals, 21-12, 21-9. In the bronze medal match, Day/Pollock beat Canada’s Megan Nagy/Marie Christine Lapointe 21-17, 21-17 in 34 minutes. The only loss for either U.S. women’s team in the tournament came at the hands of the other.
Third-seeded Stafford Slick and Mark Burik completed the gold medal run unscathed, going 6-0 in the tournament. In the final, the duo beat Canada’s Cameron Wheelan/Michael Plantinga after dropping the first set, 18-21, 21-17, 15-13. The exhausting three-set gold medal match followed a three-set semifinal against Ryan Doherty and John Mayer, in which Slick and Burik needed 57 minutes to take the win, 21-17, 19-21, 16-14.
Doherty and Mayer won bronze after defeating Ryan Vandenburg/Sergey Grabovskyy of Canada, 23-21, 21-13, their lone loss stemming from the semifinals.
The gold for Burik marked his first international win and is Slick’s second career international gold. The gold for Ledoux is her third on the NORCECA Tour and is the first career win for Stockman.
The 2016 NORCECA season concludes Nov. 25-27 in Trinidad and Tobago.