Volleyball Canada – Gstaad, Switzerland (July 12, 2019): Canada’s Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON) advanced to quarterfinals of the Beach Volleyball Gstaad Major Five-Star tournament in Switzerland on Friday. 

The Canadian team, also defending Gstaad champions, beat Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka of Latvia 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) today, and will face Ana Patricia and Rebecca of Brazil Saturday in the quarterfinals.  

“It was a tough match against a strong young Latvian team. We were able to manage the pace of the game well with our serving, something we’ll need to really utilize against our next opponents,” said Humana-Paredes.
 
The Canadian pair is coming off its World Championship win last week in Hamburg.
 
“It’s been a unique challenge to have to play so quickly after such a momentous week last week, but I think we’ve managed it well and have used that momentum for Gstaad. … We’re taking it one game at a time, and continuing to work on all the little things. We are happy that we have played some solid ball and continued to maintain a high level of play.”
 
Also today, Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson and Heather Bansley were eliminated in the second round of playoffs by Ana Patricia/Rebecca of Brazil 2-0 (21-16, 21-15). 

On the men’s side, the top Canadian finishers are Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter who lost a battle with the Czech team of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner 1-2 (26-24, 16 -21, 16-18) in the playoffs.

Next week, Pavan and Humana-Paredes, ranked number one in the world, come home to Canada and will be part of the Edmonton Three-Star. More info here: https://volleyballentourage.com/

Canadian standings as of July 12 (Gstaad):
9th – Brandie Wilkerson & Heather Bansley
9th – Sam Pedlow & Sam Schachter
17th – Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman

• Web site: http://worldtour.2019.fivb.com/en/718

Photo: FIVB

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