Young Canadians win women’s gold in Varadero

VARADERO, Cuba, August 25, 2013 – Young Melissa Humana and Taylor Pischke of Canada-A showed all their talent in winning the women’s crown of the Varadero Beach Volleyball Tournament, the fifth stop of the 2013 NORCECA Circuit, with a victory over the top team of Cuba.

Humana and Taylor had to face the strong resistance from Lianma Flores and Leila Martínez but at the end relied on their finesse touching the ball and good defense to win 2-1 (29-31, 21-18, 15-12) in the longest match of the competition that lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes.

The North American duo, winners of the bronze medal in the U19 Beach Volleyball World Championship, advanced to the gold medal match with a 21-18, 21-16 victory over the experienced pair of Martha Revuelta and Bibiana Candelas (Mexico-A).

Flores and Martinez also had to play three sets in their semifinal match before winning 21-23, 21-12, 15-6 over Kacie MacTavish and Caleigh Whitaker of Canada-B.

Revuelta and Candelas recovered to win the bronze medal defeating MacTavish and Whitaker 2-0 (21-10, 21-16).

“We are very happy to win this match against a very strong team,” Humana in an interview with Cubavision TV. “The weather was very hot during the weekend but we were able to adjust and played well.”

Women’s results of Sunday

Semifinals: CAN-A d MEX-A 2-0 (21-18, 21-16), CUB-A d CAN-B 2-1 (21-23, 21-12, 15-6). Bronze medal match: MEX-A d CAN-B 2-0 (21-10, 21-16). Gold medal match: CAN-A d CUB-A 2-1 (29-31, 21-18, 15-12)

Final positions: 1. CAN-A, 2. CUBA-A, 3. MEX-A, 4. CAN-B, 5. CUBA-C, 6. USA, 7. MEX-B, 8. DOM, 9. GUA, 10. SKN, 11. PUR, 12. HON, 13. CRC, 14. NCA.