CANADA WINS AND CLASSIFIES IN THE QUARTERFINALS AS LEADER OF GROUP D IN BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Three consecutive victories were achieved by Canadian teams Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson during the development of the beach volleyball group stage at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

The fifth in the world rankings demonstrated their experience and quality of play in every match they faced.

“I’m very excited and happy to have finished first. We always try to put on a top-notch show no matter who we play, and it was tough to compete with this team, it was going to be a tough game, but I thought we did well,” Brandie Wilkerson said.

The Canadians played their three matches on Court 2 of the Peñalolén Park Beach Volleyball Center, beating Uruguay 2-0 (21-11, 21-6) in their first match, then the Dominican Republic 2-0 ( 21-11, 21 -11) and, in his last match against Paraguay, winning 2-0 (21-13, 21-8).

Following the results obtained by the duo Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, the Canadian women’s team qualified as leader of group D for the quarter-finals, which will be played next Wednesday, October 25. Note that they will have an additional day of rest and await their rival who will be in the round of 16 between the second in group C and the third in group A, a confrontation which will be played next Tuesday. 24.

“It’s very important to have won the group, so we still have one day off. Now we are going to prepare for the Play-offs which start on Wednesday and with each match we improve the level to come stronger. I think we will prepare for the quarter-finals,” commented Melissa Humana-Paredes.

RESULTS OF OTHER GROUP D SELECTIONS

On the other hand, the second in the group were the Paraguayan teams, Erika Mongelos and Michelle Valiente, qualified for the round of 16. In this case, they will have to face the Peruvian team next Tuesday, made up of Claudia Gaona and Lisbeth Allcca, from 5 p.m., on court 1 of the Beach Volleyball Center.

“I think the opponent doesn’t matter, we’re going to worry about our side of the field, no matter who we face. We have to lift our heads after the defeat against a top 5 team in the world, even though we knew what we were up against and how good they were. We have achieved our first goal and now we are going to play match by match at the Pan American Games and we know that every opponent in this competition is difficult,” said Michelle Valiente.

Likewise, the Dominican couple composed of Julibeth Payano and Bethania Almanzar finished third in group D and will have to face in the round of 16 the Argentine team, composed of the Olympic duo Ana María Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra, qualified second in group B. Note that Almanzar, member of the Dominican Republic national team, returned to beach volleyball after 15 years of absence from the circuit.

“For me, it was a feeling of great pride to be able to represent my country and thank the people who trusted me and gave me the opportunity to be here. We now have the opportunity to continue moving forward and to compensate for the efforts we made to get here. We will try to study the Argentina team, which we saw play, but anything can happen on the field. We will do our best to keep moving forward “, said Bethania Almanzar.

Written by Sebastián León and Pablo Soto