Photo: FIVB

Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON) and Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) defeated Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink of the Netherlands 2-1 (21-18, 18-21,15-9) today to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIVB Beach World Championships in Hamburg, Germany

In the quarterfinals, Canada (seeded ninth in the tournament; sixth in the world ranking) will face 24-seeded Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth of Italy.

“It feels great coming off of that win,” Humana-Paredes told www.fivb.com. “We are just taking every game one at a time. It’s the quarterfinals now, so that’s our next focus. After that performance, if we can maintain that level throughout the next few games, we’re going to have a good shot.”

Canada’s Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson (ranked fourth in the world ranking) were eliminated yesterday by Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy of Australia; while both men’s teams had their final matches today.

Sam Pedlow & Sam Schachter lost to Alison/Álvaro Filho of Brazil 2-0; and Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman lost 2-1 to Seidl/Waller of Austria.

In their first Worlds, Megan and Nicole McNamara were eliminated in the “lucky loser” phase by a German team. They finish 33rd.

Canadian standings (as of July 04):

  • Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson – 17th
  • Sam Pedlow & Sam Schachter – 17th
  • Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman – 17th
  • Megan and Nicole McNamara – 33rd