It was a near miss for volleyball standouts Nicole and Megan McNamara at representing Canada at this summer's U21 FIVB World Championships in Cyprus.
The Grade 11 twins from Tsawwassen advanced to the finals of the qualifying tournament in Toronto before falling to the Ontario tandem of 18-year-old Sophie Bukovec and 16-year-old Tia Miric. The McNamaras took the first game 21-18 and narrowly dropped the next two - 22-24 and 21-23.
Bukovec and Miric will also be representing Canada at the U23 World Championships in Poland.
"It was definitely a stressful game," said Bukovec. "But we stayed composed and pushed through together. It's all worth it, and it feels so great and we're so excited."
The women's bronze medal match was an all-Ontario affair a Alexandra Poletto and Brett Hagarty defeated Jill Eisenhauer and Zoe Mackintosh 22-20, 21-14.
The tournament was held at the Volleyball Canada Beach High Performance Facility at Downsview Park.
The McNamaras will now take aim at earning a spot at this year's Youth Olympic Games in China by participating in next month's NORCECA Final Playoff Tournament. Back in December, they reached the final of the NORCECA Central Zone Beach Volleyball Qualification Tournament in Puerto Rico before falling in three sets to the United States.
The girls are also finalists for Sport B.C. Team of the Year. The winner will be announced March 5 at 48th annual Athlete of the Year Awards banquet in Vancouver.
