Sept. 6, 2023: Over the long weekend, school started a little bit early for Volleyball Canada, hosting the University/College Beach Nationals at Ashbridge’s Bay in Toronto.

Twelve different academic institutions participated in the event, hailing from Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and British Columbia. All told, there were 16 men’s teams and nine women’s teams on hand. 

On the men’s side, in an all-Guelph final, the brotherly duo of Jonathan and Daniel Pickett took first place against fellow Gryphons Colin Lash/Cameron Chadwick, snatching the gold right from their talons. Sam Flowerday/Sam Elgert of Thompson Rivers University hunted down the bronze, a welcome improvement from their fourth-place finish last year.

In the women’s final, the University of Waterloo was well represented, with Avery Kelly/Ashley Sinik coming out to play against fellow Warriors Molly White/Rachael Meilikhan. When the dust settled, Avery/Kelly were victorious. Natalia Souza/Jasmine Safar of the University of Toronto finished third.

• Full results can be found at this link.

This was just the second-annual University/College Beach Nationals, which gives post-secondary athletes an opportunity to represent their schools in the sand. A special thanks to the athletes, coaches, referees, partners and volunteers who helped make this year’s University/College Beach Nationals tournament such a success. 

Volleyball Canada just had a jam-packed past few weeks, hosting back-to-back-to-back events, with the youth and senior Nationals at Ashbridge’s Bay and Spanish Banks East in Vancouver. The University/College competition was the last Beach Nationals event of the season. 

On the bright side, there's more beach volleyball action on the horizon. From September 21st to 24th, Volleyball World is hosting a Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Halifax - and plenty of Canadian teams are in the mix. Sam Schachter/Dan Dearing (ranked 37th in the world) will look to ride the momentum from their first-place finish at the recent Volleyball Canada National Championships. Jake MacNeil and Alex Russell, who finished second at Nationals, will also be trying to make their mark. Check out a full list of the Canadian entries here.

Photo: Michael Chisholm