Canada's Pavan, Humana-Paredes advance at beach volleyball worlds
No. 7 Sarah Pavan, Melissa Humana-Paredes will face Swiss team in round of 16
Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan eliminated a strong Brazilian duo on a sweltering Wednesday in Vienna, Austria at the FIVB beach volleyball world championships.
The seventh-seeded Humana-Parades and Pavan turned up the heat with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-10) victory over Barbara Seixas and Fernanda Alves, who finished first and second in the 2015 edition with different partners.
The Canadians, ranked second on the FIVB World Tour, advance to the round of 16, while eighth-seeded Seixas and Alves will place seventeenth in their first worlds appearance together.
"It was definitely a tough draw. We played them in the Porec semifinal," Pavan said of their competition. "We put pressure on them with our serving and played very consistently, which is important against a team like that."
"We played really well, and each match we are getting better and better," Humana-Parades added.
With their fourth-straight win at the world championships in the books, the Canadians will come up against 10th-seeded Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland on Thursday.
Bansley, Wilkerson also move on
Fellow Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson also advanced with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) victory over German pair Karla Borger and Margareta Kozuch.
They'll face Cuba's Lidiannis Benitez and Leila Ortega.
Canada's third women's team didn't fare as well. Julie Gordon and Camille Saxton fell to Finland's Taru Lahti and Riikka Lehtonen by a score of 2-0 (21-14, 21-15).
On the men's side, elimination play begins Thursday with Canada's Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton battling Chile's Marco and Esteban Grimalt. Canadian pair Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter take on Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo.