September 7, 2022: For the third weekend in a row, Volleyball Canada hit the beach. After two weekends of National Championships, this past weekend marked the first-ever University/College Beach Volleyball Nationals, taking place at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto.

The new event saw 25 men’s and 28 women’s teams from 31 post-secondary institutions across Canada come together to battle for the gold medals.

“This was a very competitive tournament that was exciting to see come to life,” said Ed Drakich, Director of Beach High Performance for Volleyball Canada. “It provided a great opportunity for university and college beach volleyball players to represent their post-secondary institutions in an event just before their indoor volleyball season begins.”

On the women’s side, the University of Toronto’s Anna Licht and Jasmine Safar defeated Université du Québec à Montréal’s Maude Thivierge and Laura Côté-Collin for the gold medal. Brock University’s Sara Rohr and Grace Pyatt beat fellow Badgers Emily Foest and Laurin Ainsworth for the bronze.

The men’s division saw Queen’s University’s Robert Kemp and Brendan Davies defeat McMaster University’s Mateusz Wlodarski and Ben Kerkhoff to top the podium. The University of Windsor’s Pierce Johnson and Markus Law-Heese won the bronze medal after defeating Thompson Rivers University’s Sam Elgert and Sam Flowerday.

Volleyball Canada would like to thank the athletes, coaches, referees, partners, and volunteers who helped make this year’s University/College Beach Nationals tournament such a success.

Full standings from the 2022 University/College Beach Nationals will be posted soon on the Nationals Past Results page.

Volleyball Canada Nationals contact
nationals@volleyball.ca