It took a trip to Russia for Megan and Nicole McNamara to get their first taste of action on the World Beach Volleyball Tour in nearly two years.
The twin standouts from Tsawwassen finished ninth at the World Tour stop in Sochi. It was their first Federation International Volleyball (FIVB) tour event since July 2019 in Vienna Austria, after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 season. The duo was slated to play a three-tournament swing through Mexico earlier this spring until Nicole tested positive for COVID.
The 23-year-olds, showed plenty of promise in Sochi, winning a qualification match against a team from the Netherlands to advance to the main draw where they went 1-1 in pool play, defeating Japan and hanging tough with Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch, losing 18-21, 20-22 to the defending World Tour champions.
The McNamaras then opened the single-knockout playoff round with a win against another Dutch team, before dropping a hard-fought three-set battle to Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson (19-21, 21-19, 10-15) in an all-Canadian match-up.
They will continue on the World Tour this week at another four-star event in Ostrava, Czech Republic that gets underway today (Wednesday).
