FIVB: Canadian Women Fizzle in Vienna
Ouch - that one hurt!
It was a rough day for the Canadian women at the Vienna 5-Star as they go a collective 1-5 in the Main Draw. Here's what happened in Vienna.
Pool A
Sarah Pavan & Melissa Humaña-Paredes are the only women's team left standing after going 1-1 in Pool A today. They opened the first match of the tournament against hometown wildcard Nadine Strauss and Franziska Friedl (No. 97) in straight sets. Next up was the newly crowned European Champs Madelein Meppelink and Sanne Keizer - and the Dutchies were out to prove their crown was no fluke as they brought down the No. 1 team in the world in straight sets.
Sarah & Mel will be taking on Makroguzova/Kholomina of Russia - the young team that eliminated Heather and Brandie, in the Main Draw.
🇨🇦 Sarah Pavan & Melissa Humaña-Paredes def. 🇦🇹 Strauss/Freidl- 21-17, 21-11
🇳🇱 Keizer/Meppelink def. 🇨🇦 Sarah Pavan & Melissa Humaña-Paredes - 24-22, 21-14
Next Game: 🇨🇦 Sarah Pavan & Melissa Humaña-Paredes vs. 🇷🇺 Makroguzova/Kholomina - 7:30 a.m. ET / 4:30 a.m. PT | COURT 4
Pool B
Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson have hands down been of the hottest teams on tour this summer - rocketing up the World Rankings to a No. 2 ranking. After six-straight top-five finishes and a Bronze in Gstaad - they're heading home after dropiing four-straight sets to Italy's Marta Menegatti & Victoria Orsi Toth (No. 184) and the 21-year olds from Russia, Svetlana Kholomina and Nadezda Makroguzova. They finish 25th - their first time outside of the top ten since their 25th in Xiamen in April.
Note: Italy's Victoria Orsi Toth is in her second game back after a two-year ban for testing positive for banned substances before the 2016 Rio Olympics.
🇮🇹 Menegatti/Orsi Toth def. 🇨🇦 Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson - 21-16, 21-18
🇷🇺 Makroguzova/Kholomina def. 🇨🇦 Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson - 21-19, 21-18
Pool F
It was a pool of death for Jamie Broder & Taylor Pischke with some of the worlds alongside them in Pool F. After a gritty win over Sinnema/Bloem of the Netherlands in Qualification - they opened the Main Draw pushing the USA's April Ross and Alix Klineman (No. 28) to a third set and then falling in two-straight to Germany's Victoria Bieneck and Isabel Schneider (No. 7). They finish 25th.
🇺🇸 Ross/Klineman def. 🇨🇦 Jamie Broder & Taylor Pischke - 19-21, 21-12, 15-8
🇩🇪 Bieneck/Schneider def. 🇨🇦 Jamie Broder & Taylor Pischke - 21-17, 21-14
Men Get Started on Thursday
The men's Main Draw gets started on Thursday as we saw a rare two-day qualification round. Ben Saxton and Grant O'Gorman grinded throught to qualify - taking down teams from Austria and Argentina.
Round 1: 🇨🇦 Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman def. 🇦🇹 Schnetzer/Müllner - 21-17, 21-18
Round 2: 🇨🇦 Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman def. 🇦🇷 Capogrosso/Azaad - 21-14, 18-21, 15-9
They join Sam Schachter and Sam Pedlow in the Main Draw - Ben and Grant kick things off against Poland's Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak the current World No. 1. Sam & Sam will have a battle of their own - facing off with hometown favourites (and their training partners from last week) Clemens Doppler and Alex Horst. Things are going to get hot real quick for the men!
🇨🇦 Ben Saxton & Grant O’Gorman vs. 🇵🇱 Kantor/Losiak - 5:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. PT | COURT 3
🇨🇦 Sam Schachter & Sam Pedlow vs. 🇦🇹 Doppler/Horst - 5:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. PT | COURT 1