Canadians secure first place of Pool A in Nanjing

NANJING, China, August 21, 2014 – Canadians Nicole and Megan McNamara clinched first place of Pool A in the female beach volleyball tournament of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-9) victory over Yekaterina Lassyuta and Anna Pimenova of Kazakhstan on Thursday.

The Canadians improved their win-loss record to 4-0 and will play Michele Lantignotti and Irene Enzo (2-2) of Italy on Friday to complete their participation in pool-play.

The top teams from each of the six pools in the Beach Volleyball competition will receive a first-round “bye” when single-elimination play starts Sunday along with the top two second-place finishers based on point ratio.

In Pool B, United States’ Skylar Caputo and Susannah Muno lost a three-set duel (21-13, 17-21, 15-12) in 43 minutes with Kristyna Adamcikova and Katerina Valkova of Czech Republic.

In Pool F, Puerto Ricans Lina Bernier and Valeria Cajigas (2-2) also lost in three sets (23-21, 10-21, 15-11) to Argentina’s Irene Varasio and Camila Hiruela in 45 minutes.

St Lucia’s Skye Mondesir and Dala Noel dropped to a 2-2 mark in Pool C following their loss to Esra Cetin and Selin Yurtsever of Turkey 2-0 (21-12, 21-6).

Guatemala’s Estefanie Bethancourt and Natalia Giron (1-3) lost to Paraguay’s Michelle Valiente and Erika Mongelos 2-0 (21-5, 21-14) in Pool D.