Canada women teams start well in Martinique 

POINTE-DU-MARIN, Martinique, October 26, 2018 - Both Canada teams in the women’s segment of the sixth and final leg of the 2018 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit made winning starts to their respective round-robin group campaigns.

Despite the late start to the day’s matches by some three hours due to tardy preparations of the court, the Canada-B pairing of Amanda Harnett and Marie-Christine Lapointe wasted little time in sweeping aside Martinique-B, Christine Alamelou and Vanessa Zamord 21-3, 21-5 in Pool B.

And in Pool C, Canada-A duo, Sophie Bukovec and Alexandra Poletto overcame a determined test from Costa Ricans, Melissa Armijo and Katherine Quesada 21-12, 21-16.

There were also wins for Puerto Rico promising pairing, Allanis Navas and Maria Gonzalez, USA-B’s Katherine Spieler and Karissa Cook and the teenaged tandem of Adicia Burton and Ethlyne Lockhart from Dominica.

Navas and Gonzales outplayed El Salvadorans, Kathya Vasque and Maria Fernanda Vargas 21-15, 21-18 before the Central Americans powered past Trinidad and Tobago’s Rheeza Grant and Abby Blackman 21-14, 21-11 in Pool A.

Spieler and Cook got the better of fellow USA players, Victoria Dennis and Melissa Fuchs, 21-11, 21-16  in Pool B , and Burton and Lockhart, fresh off of competing at the Buenos Aries Youth Olympic Games outlasted the vastly experienced team of Martinque-A’s Frederique Burnet Soton and Estelle Le Pelley, 21-13, 20-22, 15-5.

At the end of the round-robin format on Saturday, the top two teams in each three points will qualify to the quarterfinals, along with the two best third placed teams from the three pools. Matches resume on Saturday from 8 am.

Day One Results:

POOL A: PUR d ESA 21-15, 21-18; ESA d TTO 21-14, 21-11. POOL B: USA-B d USA-A 21-11, 21-16; CAN-B d MQE –B 21-3, 21-5. POOL C: DOM d MQE-A 21-13, 20-22, 15-5; CAN-A d CRC 21-13, 21-16.