Volleyball Canada – Canada going for gold in both the men’s and women’s events in Edmonton

July 21, 2019: Canada’s Ben Saxton (Calgary, AB) and Grant O’Gorman (Scarborough, ON), and 2019 World Champions Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto) will be going for gold today at the FIVB US$150,000 Edmonton Open at Northlands Park.

• Event web site for ticketing info https://volleyballentourage.com/ or K-Days

 
The FINALS of the Edmonton Open will be live-streamed at www.cbcsports.ca

• See schedule here (Eastern time): https://www.cbc.ca/sports/broadcast

 
Humana-Paredes and Pavan advanced to the Edmonton gold medal match with wins on Saturday over 25th-seeded qualifiers Monika Brzostek/Aleksandra Gromadowska of Poland 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) in 27 minutes and 13th-seeded Akiko Hasegawa/Azusa Futami of Japan 2-0 (21-16, 22-20) in 38 minutes.
 
The women play Americans Emily Day and Betsi Flint today at 4 pm local.
 
Today’s match will be the second FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams as Humana-Paredes and Pavan defeated Day and Flint last October in Las Vegas where the Canadians placed second and the Americans fifth.
 
Saxton and O’Gorman advanced with a pair of wins starting with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) quarter-final win in 36 over sixth-seeded Chase Budinger/Casey Patterson of the United States. To reach the finals, Saxton and O’Gorman posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) win in 34 minutes over 16th-seeded Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati of Italy.
 
They will play the Swiss pair of Nico Beeler and Marco Krattiger in today’s final at 3 pm local time.
 
In other World Tour news: Canada’s Sam Schachter (Richmond Hill, ON) and Sam Pedlow (Barrie, ON), competing at a 4-star event in Espinho, Portugal, finished fifth overall on Saturday.

• Web site for Espinho: http://worldtour.2019.fivb.com/en/721

 
Previously in Edmonton, Canada’s Nicole and Megan McNamara were eliminated in the second round of playoffs on Friday.  The Canadians finished ninth overall.
 
Canadian women’s teams finished ranked 17th were Julie Gordon/Shanice Marcelle, and Taylor Pischke/ Sophie Bukovec. Marie-Christine Lapointe/Amanda Harnett, who will represent Canada at the Pan Am Games next month, were 25th.
 
On the men’s side, Canadians Jake MacNeil/Will Hoey, Aaron Nusbaum/ Mike Plantinga and Cam Wheelan/Sergiy Grabovskyy finished Edmonton ranked 25th.
 
 

Photo and info: FIVB

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender jskender@volleyball.ca
Mobile: 613-794-7676