McNamaras to play for the gold in Nanjing
 

NANJING, China, August 26, 2014 - It will be North America versus South America for the women’s Beach Volleyball gold medal at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games after pairs from Canada and Brazil won semi-final matches here Tuesday afternoon at the venue located within the Nanjing Sports Park Complex.

In a repeat of the semi-final match in Portugal some 3½ weeks ago at the FIVB under-19 world championships, the McNamara twins (Megan and Nicole) avenged a Porto setback to Lisa Arnholdt and Sarah Schneider by defeating the Germans 2-0 (21-18 and 21-18) in a 33-minute match to open play Tuesday.

The McNamara now play Ana Patricia Silva and Eduarda Lisboa Tuesday evening for the gold medal as the Brazilians continued their winning ways in the second semi-final Tuesday by defeating Nadezda Makroguzova and Daria Rudykh of Russia 2-0 (21-18 and 21-19) in a 38-minute match.  The Russians will play Arnholdt and Schneider for the bronze medal to start the evening session.

 “It is a pretty neat feeling,” said Megan McNamara after the match about being guaranteed a medal.  “When we found out we were going to be playing them (Germany), we knew they were a great team that would be tough to beat.  It will be very hard match with Brazil.  They are an amazing team that plays very hard.”