Prague, Czech Republic, May 22, 2015 - Since the start of the women’s competition on the FIVB World Tour in 1992, the strongest teams from the NORCECA confederation came from the United States led by three-time Olympic gold medal winners Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings.
But the Americans’ neighbor to the north have been “Canada Strong” due to the successes of Canuck pairs Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas, Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan, and Melissa Humana-Paredes/Taylor Pischke.
Through the first two-plus events on the 2015 women’s FIVB World Tour calendar, the three Canadian pairs have combined to collect one gold medal, two podium placements and five top nine finishes as compared to their south of the board rivals that have one medal and five top nine finishes to date.
“I think now we have more players involved with playing Beach Volleyball than before, said the 27-year old Bansley, who is in her fifth full-season on the FIVB World Tour. “More players are investing their time and money in the sport. Our federation is also helping and we have coaches to support our effort.”
Pavan, one of the great American collegiate players while competing at the University of Nebraska, said the Canadians players are not “playing the sport as a hobby anymore. It is no more weekend outings for fun, food and frolicking with your friends and family. It is a serious business.”
With Pavan as one of the tallest women’s players on the FIVB World Tour (196 cm, 6’5”) and Bansley playing behind the big blocker, the Canadians won their group (Pool G) with a 3-0 mark after defeating an American team to start play Friday. With the pool title, Bansley and Pavan advanced to Saturday’s schedule by earning a first-round bye when the 24-team elimination bracket competition starts Friday afternoon.
“Our goal right now is to get better with every match,” said the 28-year old Pavan, who is starting her third full-time season on the beach while playing professionally indoors since 2008 with teams in Brazil, Italy and South Korea. “It really doesn’t matter who we are playing since we need to take care of business on our side of the net. We just need to play consistently and make sure we do our job on our side.”
All three Canadians won their pool play matches as the pairs of Broder/Valjas and Humana-Paredes/Pischke defeated teams from Poland and Argentina, respectively, Friday. Both teams finished second in their pool and will play Friday afternoon elimination matches against tandems that finished third in their pools. Broder and Valjas are currently the top-ranked team on the FIVB World Tour with the other two Canadians pairs in the top 10. Broader and Valjas became the first women’s team from Canada to win an international gold medal when they captured the season opening event in China highlighted by a semi-final victory in three-sets over American rivals Walsh Jennings and April Ross.
The Canadians’ combined match record this season is 30-7 with Broder and Valjas 15-2 (88.2 winning percentage). Like Pavan and Bansley, Valjas’ (188, 6’2”) play at the net is aided by Bansley’s defense. Prior to this season, Broader and Valjas had never finished above fifth in a FIVB tournament and had posted only a 44-74 match mark (37.3 winning percentage) in 34 events.
With the 2015 season just starting and the world championships looming next month in The Netherlands (June 26-July 5), the action starts to heat up next week with the first of four-straight FIVB Grand Slam and Major Series events on the world tour. The early story-line on the FIVB World Tour has been “Canadian Strong”.