Tsawwassen volleyball standouts Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara have secured a spot in the NORCECA Central Zone Youth Olympic Games Beach Volleyball Qualification Tournament slated for this summer.
The 15-year-old Grade 10 twins from South Delta secondary earned their trip to Puerto Rico by capturing the national qualifying event - April 12-14 in Ontario. The McNamaras rallied to defeat Ontario's Alexandria Poletto and Tiadore Miric in the final - 1421, 24-22 and 15-8. Both teams had earlier gone undefeated in pool play.
The girls had been preparing year-round for the tournament with their club -Sideout Beach - and coach Mischa Harris.
In February, Megan and Nicole fell in three sets during the final of the U19 FIVB World Championships Qualification tournament and this was their chance at redemption.
"We learned some valuable lessons about what we needed to work on as a team at the U19 tryouts, and with six weeks of very focused training the girls came back and used their new team identity to take care of business," says Harris.
The McNamaras are defending U18 national champions on the beach, and U16 national champions indoors. This will be their first experience representing Canada, and after this year they have two more years of eligibility for the U19 World Championships tournament.
Back in December, they helped the South Delta Sun Devils capture their first-ever provincial "AAAA" volleyball championship with both earning first all-star team honours.
