November 18, 2019: It was a busy week in beach volleyball with both the 2019 FIVB World Tour and the 2019 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour wrapping their 2019 seasons up. The FIVB World Tour has the CAVB Continental Cups left on its schedule and will pick up the season in 2020.

For Canada, the tournaments didn’t result in any medals but saw numerous Canadians in action. The FIVB World Tour, held in Chetumal, Mexico had four Canadian teams participating, with Heather Bansley (Waterdown, ON) and Brandie Wilkerson (Toronto, ON) having the best performance in the event.

The duo went 2-0 through pool play, never dropping a set. They fell 0-2 in Round 2 to China’s Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia, just missing the semifinals. Wang and Xia went on to win the silver medal against gold medalists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho from Australia.

The other women’s team, Julie Gordon (Barrie, ON) and Shanice Marcelle (Victoria, BC), went 1-1 through the round-robin, falling in round one to the same duo that knocked out their fellow Canadians, Wang and Xia.

On the men’s side, Sam Pedlow (Barrie, ON) and Sam Schachter (Richmond Hill, ON) went 1-1 in pool play, missing the semifinals and finishing ninth overall. Aaron Nusbaum (Aurora, ON) and Mike Plantinga (Langley, BC) went 1-1 in the qualification round, falling short of the main draw. Team USA’s Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb won gold.

The 2019 portion of the FIVB World Tour has Sarah Pavan (Kitchener, ON) and Melissa Humana-Paredes (Toronto, ON) as the top-ranked women in the world, with Bansley and Wilkerson at 16. The men’s top duo is Pedlow and Schachter at 25th, with Ben Saxton (Calgary, AB) and Grant O’Gorman (Scarborough, ON) right behind them at 28th.

In the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour, it was the men’s side with the highest finish. The duo of Jake MacNeil (Georgetown, ON) and Liam Kopp (St. Catharines, ON) finished fourth in the event, held in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. They went 3-0 through pool play and won their quarterfinals match before falling in the semifinals to eventual second-place finishers Ruben Mora and Denis Lopez from the Dominican Republic.

Max Losier (Ottawa, ON) and Fiodar Kazhamiaka (Waterloo, ON) went 1-2 in their pool, before winning two games to finish in ninth place. Team USA’s Paul Lotman and Miles Partain won the gold medal for the men’s side.

There were two women’s teams competing as well, the duo of Devon May (Robert’s Creek, BC) and Darby Dunn (South Surrey, BC) and the pair of Megan Nash (Oakville, ON) and Alexandra Poletto (Toronto, ON). Placed in the same pool, May and Dunn finished 2-1, defeating Nash and Poletto who finished 1-2. May and Dunn fell in the Quarterfinals and went on to finish seventh, while Nash and Poletto captured ninth. Team USA’s Falyn Fonoimoana and Corinne Quiggle won gold in the event.

Canada finished the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour with six medals (Two silver and a bronze for the men; a gold, silver, and bronze for the women).

FIVB World Tour information and full results can be found here.

NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour information and full results can be found here.

Report by Josh Bell

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