Volleyball Canada – July 05, 2019: Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON) and Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) took three exciting sets to beat Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli of Switzerland this evening at the FIVB Beach World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.  Canada will now go for the gold medal on Saturday. 

The final score of today’s semi was 2-1 (23-21, 17-21, 19-17).

Canada had given up multiple set points, and kept the crowd on its feet for most of the third set.

“We came here to win and now have an opportunity tomorrow, and that’s all that matters,” Pavan said after the match to FIVB TV.  A win would also ensure a spot it the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Earlier today in the quarterfinals, Canada (seeded ninth in the tournament, sixth in the world ranking) defeated 24-seeded Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy 2-0 (21-12, 21-12).

In tomorrow’s gold medal match, they will face the United States (Alix Klineman/April Ross) who beat Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar of Australia in their semi today.

• Post match (semi) interview video with Canada : https://youtu.be/xFtncJPmfjM

The gold medal final will be live at 9:15 am ET on www.cbcsports.ca on July 06.

Canadian final standings (as of July 05):
Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson – 17th
Sam Pedlow & Sam Schachter – 17th
Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman- 17th
Megan and Nicole McNamara – 33rd
 
Links:

• Web site: http://hamburg2019.fivb.com/en
• CBC web stream and coverage: https://www.cbc.ca/sports
• Web stream (by paid subscription): 
  https://welcome.volleyballworld.tv/beach-volleyball 
• More coverage: https://beachmajorseries.com/

Photo: FIVB

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