McNamara Twins Capture Bronze at FIVB
May 16, 2016 | Beach Volleyball
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LUCERNE, SWITZERLANDย -- Canadian twins Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara captured bronze at the the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships on Monday. The 18-year-olds came back from one set down (18-21, 23-21, 15-10) against USA's Sarah Sponcil and Torrey Van Winden. Van Winden is an incoming freshman at UCLA.
The twins warded off three American match points in the second set to tie it at one set apiece. This was the turning point in the match as they continued their good play in the tiebreak.ย
"It's always hard coming off of a really tough loss in the semifinals," said Megan. "So we really had to bounce back and be strong. But we just decided that if we're going to be disappointed about our loss in the semifinals it should be tonight and not right before another big medal game. So we just thought about how great it would be to be on the podium."
It is the second FIVB bronze for the sisters. They also placed third at the 2014 U19 in Porto. In that same year they had a 17th place finish at the U21. It's the third medal for Canada in the women's U21 history.
The Russian team defeated the Canadian twins Megan and Nicole McNamara 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-13) in the semifinal in the Lido-stadium.ย
In the other semifinal, Brazil's 'Duda' and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos defeated USA's Sarah Sponcil and Torrey Van Winden 2-0 (21-19, 22-20). Despite a three-point lead in the second set Sponcil and FIVB-debutant Van Winden could not match the power play of the Brazilian team.ย
