Canadian women 'absolutely dominating' in Rome, going 9-0 through pool play

Sam Schachter doesn’t want you to think about him and Dan Dearing. He doesn’t want you to scan the results of the initial phase of this World Championships and stop on him and Dearing and do the calculus: that they survived what is one of the most brutal pools in recent memory, one in which the No. 2 overall seed, Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Michal Bryl, winner of two events in 2022 alone, didn't even advance.

But don't mind them for now.

Really, what Schachter wants you to take note of is the women.

“Huge shout out to all of our Canadian women’s teams who are absolutely dominating by winning their pool,” he said. “Yes, that’s right, they are all undefeated.”

Indeed: The trio of Canadian teams in Rome competing in this week’s World Championships – Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes, Megan and Nicole McNamara, Sophie Bukovec and Brandie Wilkerson – have played nine total matches without adding a single loss to the ledger.

The McNamaras, competing in their fifth tournament this season, topped their pool with a stunner over Brazil’s Carol Salgado and Barbara Seixas, 16-21, 21-19, 15-13. Bukovec and Wilkerson, who are in their first season together, put together a pair of impressive wins over Switzerland’s Esmee Bobner and Zoe Verge-Depre and fifth-seeded Americans Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint. No upsets were required of Pavan and Humana-Paredes, who are coming off a gold medal in Jurmala, Latvia. Like Bukovec and Wilkerson, they have yet to drop a set in Rome, completing their perfect performance in pool with a sweep over Germans Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz, 25-23, 21-19.

Success for Canadian women is nothing new, of course. Pavan and Heather Bansley ushered in a wholly new era for the North American country when they partnered up in 2013. It took a season or two for them to begin performing at an elite level on the game’s biggest stages, but by 2015, there was no question about it: Canada had a team who could contend with Brazil, Germany, and the United States. Pavan and Bansley won a silver in Prague and at the Porec Major, a bronze in Gstaad, and made another semifinal appearance at the Fort Lauderdale Major. The Rio Olympic Games followed, marking perhaps the first time that a Canadian team was a legitimate medal threat since John Child and Mark Heese won bronze in 1996.

And when they split following a fifth in Rio – tying the highest finish from a Canadian women’s team – Canada didn’t get worse, but better. Both picked up younger partners with enormous ceilings and loads of untapped talent. Pavan turned to Humana-Paredes, then a 23-year-old who had been named the FIVB Rookie of the Year in 2014, while Bansley teamed up with Wilkerson, a 24-year-old blocker with 14 tournaments of international experience to her name.

It worked out well enough. Both teams would claim the No. 1 ranking in the world. Both would win numerous tournaments. All four players would garner various awards: Best Blocker (Wilkerson and Pavan), Best Defender (Bansley and Humana-Paredes), Team of the Year (Pavan and Humana-Paredes). In 2019, Pavan and Humana-Paredes would become the first Canadian team to win a World Championship. In 2021, for the first time in history, two Canadian women’s teams would qualify for an Olympic Games.

Now, less than 10 years after Pavan and Bansley put Canada back on the beach volleyball map, there are not one, not two, but three Canadian pairs dominating at the World Championships. Each team is on their own separate journey both to and in Rome: Bukovec and Wilkerson are the new team who are making strides every tournament they play; Pavan and Humana-Paredes are the established power, a medal contender in every tournament they play; the McNamaras have played together since birth, twins who may have just logged the biggest win of their young and promising careers.

The draw is not yet out for the women, though Schachter and Dearing know that they will play Mexico’s Juan Virgen and Miguel Sarabia at 22:00 local time on June 14.

But Schachter doesn’t want you to think about that. He wants all your eyes on the women, and an unprecedented, undefeated run thus far in Rome.

· Watch all matches at the Rome 2022 World Championships live on Volleyball.tv.

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