Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ontario and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Toronto, Ontario are in the quarterfinals of the 2019 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Hamburg, Germany on Friday. Pavan and Humana-Paredes, who are the reigning Commonwealth Games champions, won two games in the knockout stage on Thursday. Their first win was a straight set 21-18, 21-13 triumph over Xia Xinyi and Fan Wang of China in the round of 32 and their second win was a three set 21-18, 18-21, 15-9 victory over Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink of the Netherlands in the round of 16.
Pavan and Humana-Paredes finished in first place in Pool I with a record of three wins and zero losses. On June 29, they beat Yuli Ayala and Diana Rios of Colombia 21-6, 21-13. Then they beat Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Birlova 18-21, 21-17. 15-13 on June 30 before beating Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes of the United States 22-24, 21-17, 18-16 on July 2.
Heather Bansley of London, Ontario and Brandie Wilkerson of Toronto, Ontario also reached the round of 32 on the women’s side with a record of two wins and one loss (second place in Pool C), but lost 21-15, 21-19 to Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho of Australia. Pavan and Humana-Paredes meanwhile will play Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Toth of Italy in the quarterfinals.
In men’s competition, two Canadian teams reached the round of 32. Sam Pedlow of Barrie, Ontario and Sam Schachter of Toronto, Ontario reached the knockout round with a record of two wins and one loss (third place in Pool K), but lost 21-18, 21-14 to Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho of Brazil. Meanwhile, Ben Saxton of Calgary, Alberta and Grant O’Gorman of Toronto, Ontario reached the round of 16 by winning Pool F with a record of two wins and one loss, but lost 22-24, 21-15, 15-8 to Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller of Austria.
