Olympics

Canada's Pavan, Bansley top Switzerland in women's beach volleyball

Canadians Sarah Pavan and Heather Bansley moved to 2-0 in preliminary beach volleyball with a win over Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr Tuesday night.

Win moves Canadians into 1st place in Pool E

Canada's Heather Bansley digs a ball during her and teammate Sarah Pavan's win over Switzerland Tuesday night. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press)

Canadian beach volleyball pair Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan moved into first place in Pool E with a win over Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr Tuesday night.

The straight-sets (21-18, 21-18) victory saw Pavan make a match-high 21 successful digs which went a long way towards limiting Switzerland to just 27 successful attacks on 63 attempts.

The win gives Canadian pair Bansley-Pavan top position in Pool E with four points. Rounding out Pool E are Swiss pair Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr who have three points and share second place with German couple Karla Borger and Britta Buthe. Dutch duo Jantine Van Der Vlist and Sophie Van Gestel have two points in fourth position.

Only the top two teams from each pool are guaranteed a spot in the Round of 16, along with the top two third-place teams from the six pools.

The four bottom third-place teams will face each other in a lucky loser playoffs in order to determine the final two teams to advance to the Round of 16.

Canada can punch its ticket to the quarter-finals with a win over Germany in its final group match on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.