NORCECA: Beach Volleyball Continental Cup

Today marks the beginning of the 2012 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.  This tournament is a chance for Canada to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games for beach volleyball.  The 16 team tournament takes place from June 21st - 23rd, 2012 in Mazatlan, Mexico.  Canada has two men's and two women's teams down in Mazatlan.

Canadian Men's Teams in Mazatlan

	Saxton-Redmann
	Binstock-Reader

Canadian Women's Teams in Mazatlan

	Lessard-Martin
	Bansley-Maloney

All four Canadian teams have a good chance of qualifying as they regularly play on the FIVB World Tour and are ranked the highest when compared to all other teams in this tournament.  There is some question as to the readiness of Elizabeth Maloney and Heather Bansley.  Two weeks ago, my money would have been on them to qualify for London at this tournament.  Last week, the pair forfeited all three of their pool play matches in Rome.  From what I understand a nagging injury came up in a practice session and they decided to rest up for this tournament.  This was the smart move as opposed to possibly making the injury worse if they were to play.

As always, we will be providing matches, results and live streams (if available) for this event.  Usually live streaming for NORCECA events from Mexico has been very limited.  Hopefully due to the nature of this event, there might be some better options for following along live.

Update on 2012-06-21 20:29 by Cameron Kerr

Well it looks like the online coverage by NORCECA and The FIVB out of Mazatlan is pretty bad.  The FIVB site doesn't even have their results page working.

Luckily, our athletes are letting us know via Twitter how they are doing.  I just heard from Ben Saxton who let us know that all the Canadian teams won their first respective matches.

@killontwo @martinjreader @CANBeachVolley @malessard we all won our first match. #sofarsogood

— Ben Saxton (@BenSaxton13) June 21, 2012

@killontwo @martinjreader @canbeachvolley @bensaxton13 we win 3-0. Into semis tomorrow!

— Marie-Andrée Lessard (@malessard) June 21, 2012

Couple wins to clinch the first round. Playing Cuba tomorrow in the semis. #ContinentalCup

— Ben Saxton (@BenSaxton13) June 21, 2012

 

Update on 2012-06-22 14:05 by Cameron Kerr

While the FIVB Website now has fixed their server error and has a working results page, it is still not even updated with yesterday's matches.  Today, Canada plays Cuba in the semis on both the men's and women's side of the tournament.  We will post the results here once we know them.

Update on 2012-06-22 20:41 by Cameron Kerr

We have some updates from the women from Mexico courtesy of Marie-Andrée on Twitter:

@killontwo @canbeachvolley@canadabeachvbal 2 wins for the women against cuba! Great playing here Mazatlan! Don't know for the men though.

— Marie-Andrée Lessard (@malessard) June 22, 2012

Update on 2012-06-24 15:44 by Cameron Kerr

From The Redmann-Saxton Facebook Page:

NORCECA Continental Beach Volleyball Cup Finals

Men

	Binstock-Reader	def.		Ontiveros-Ontiveros	2-0 (21-11, 21-13)
	Miramontes-Virgin	def.		Saxton-Redmann	(21-15, 21-18)
	Redmann-Saxton	def.		Ontiveros-Ontiveros	(21-16, 21-18)
	Binstock-Reader	def.		Miramontes-Virgin	(21-17, 11-21, 15-13)

Women

	Bansley-Maloney	def.		Revuelta-Virgen	(21-17, 11-21, 15-13)
	Lessard-Martin	def.		Candelas-Garcia	(21-18, 16-21, 15-12)
	Lessard-Martin	def.		Revuelta-Virgen	(21-14, 21-14)

Update on 2012-06-24 00:58 by Cameron Kerr

Just found out via John Child on Facebook:

Canada has just officially earned a berth in the men's draw. Binstock and Reader came from down 9-11 to win 15-13!
Stayed tuned, Annie and Marie just took the court and are warming up against Mexico 2.

The Canadian women have also qualified for the Olympics.