If the first day of the main draw of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Montréal didn’t go well for the Canadian female duos that are taking part in the tournament, things changed for them at the Notre Dame Island on Friday.

After debuting in the event with setbacks on Thursday, Melissa Humana-Paredes/Brandie Wilkerson and Sarah Pavan/Molly McBain both triumphed on the second day of pool play and advanced to the elimination rounds in their home tournament.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite16 matches live on VBTV

Melissa and Brandie got not only one, but two victories in Pool D and moved forward in second place. The Olympians displayed a much-improved game in comparison to the one they had displayed in a loss to Dutch Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam and will enter the elimination rounds in good form.

“To get two wins against two strong teams and to get out of our pool, that's a great accomplishment,” Melissa said. “A new tournament starts tomorrow and we're ready for it. Going into the elimination rounds with two wins is always what you want to do. There are probably still a few things we need to clean up, but we're excited to play.”

The two secured a strong two-set (21-18, 21-19) win over Australian Olympians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho in their first match and overcame Swiss Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Esmée Böbner and a lightning delay to win in two sets (21-13, 21-15) again in the last match of the day.

“The weather was a challenge today,” Brandie commented. “In the morning we were playing in the beautiful sun and in the evening, there was rain and the delay. It’s uncomfortable, but we train to be in uncomfortable situations and to be mentally strong. It was just another added challenge that we had to rise up to, but I think we did a good job.”

Schoon and Stam also had a perfect day in Montréal, beating Zoé and Esmée in two sets (21-18, 22-20) and Clancy and Mariafe in the tie-breaker (18-21, 21-18, 15-13) to advance as the top team in the pool.

Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Pavan and McBain had a more complicated day, but also managed to advance in third place in Pool C, where they competed against three American duos. The Canadians dropped their first match to Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles in two sets (17-21, 19-21), but delivered when it mattered against Sarah Sponcil and Terese Cannon, pulling off a two-set (23-21, 21-19) victory to progress.

Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss were the top team in the pool. The two followed up on a Thursday win over Pavan and McBain with a pair of triumphs against their compatriots, beating Cannon and Sponcil 21-17, 21-12 and Scoles and Flint 21-8, 21-18 to dominate the pool.

Pool A had just two matches on the last day of pool play in Montréal and world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos continued unstoppable. After securing two wins on Thursday, the Brazilians got another one on Friday, beating Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska and Aleksandra Wachowicz in the tie-breaker (19-21, 24-22, 15-12).

Despite dropping their second match in Canada to Thailand’s Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee and Taravadee Naraphornrapat in the tie-breaker (21-16, 18-21, 10-15), Brazilians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti advanced in second place, as well as the Poles, who were third.

Pool B saw Chinese Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia rank first after they overcame Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado in the tie-breaker (21-19, 12-21, 15-9) in the ‘pool final’, ending a 14-match winning streak of the Brazilians on the Beach Pro Tour. Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes took the third and last spot in the elimination rounds with a sweep (21-13, 21-16) of Brazilians Talita Antunes and Thamela Coradello.

Saturday’s elimination rounds in Montréal will include the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals. The semifinals and medal matches will end the event at the Notre Dame Island on Sunday.

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