Canadian beach team wins another gold in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia, March 20, 20173 - Canadian beach pair Julie Gordon and Camille Saxton are on a roll.

At just their second tournament together earlier this month they won gold at the World Tour event in Shepparton, Australia, and then this weekend, their third outing together, they won the Manly Beach FIVB World Tour title at the two-star event in Sydney.

 Despite some battles in earlier matches, Gordon and Saxton were unstoppable in the final, cruising through the opening set 21-14, and then fighting back from 1-6 down to take the second 21-16 against home-country favourites Rio 2016 Olympian Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Queensland's Jessyka Ngauamo. Bawden/Laird of Australia won the third place match.

Any chance of an Australian comeback in the second set was snuffed out when the Canadians went from 11-14 down to lead 16-14. "I think today, we were down in that second set and Camille completely took over the game," Gordon said.

They are obviously pleased with their strong start to the season, and looking forward to the FIVB Xiamen three-star event in April.

"We are so happy with this result and really proud of the way we stayed composed throughout this tournament while battling the elements (including bad weather), and also being tested in a couple of matches. We feel as though we are gelling very quickly as a team and maturing with every single match. We are excited to go back to New Zealand to continue working with our coach, Charles Leota, and growing our game even more the next event in Xiamen, China. I can't wait to see what Camille will do next, she is quickly rising as a tour favourite and is truly a champion!"

Sydney was a women’s only tournament, with Canada’s other entry - Tessa Davis and Rachel Cockrell - not advancing out of the first round of play.