Marcelle and Gordon secure first World Tour four-star appearance
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Chetumal, Mexico, November 13, 2019 – Together for just over one year, Shanice Marcelle and Julie Gordon are set to make their first main draw appearance in an FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour four-star event as the Canadians advanced from the qualifier of the tournament in Chetumal, Mexico on Wednesday.
Playing in the Mexican city for the second-straight season, the 29-year-old Marcelle and the 27-year-old Gordon had a close 2-0 (21-18, 22-20) victory over French Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard to secure their main draw spot.
The teams had met not long ago as they faced each other in the opening match of a three-star tournament in Edmonton, in July, when the Canadians also came out on top. The circumstances were different this time, though, and not just because the match on Canadian soil was part of a main draw.
“It was very cold in Edmonton and so warm today,” Marcelle reflected. “They are a really good team. They have great ball control and they do things maybe a little bit differently than what you would normally see, so it was all about us staying patient on our side and trying to figure them out.”
Their first main draw appearance in a four-star event is an opportunity the Canadians don’t want to waste and, to make the most of it, they want to remain focused on their side of the net. This way, they hope they can go beyond the ninth place, which is their best result together in 11 World Tour tournaments.
“I felt that we’ve improved a lot in the last two months,” Gordon added. “It’s great that we are able to play in a four-star tournament and especially here in Mexico, which we love. We want to keep taking it one game at a time and appreciate being here. We’ll work hard here so hopefully we can really enjoy holiday in December.”
Also advancing from the qualifier in Chetumal were Spain’s Amaranta Navarro/Angela Lobato and Maria Carro/Paula Soria, USA’s Terese Cannon/Sara Hughes, Norway’s Ingrid Lunde/Ane Hjortland, Japan’s Azusa Futami/Akiko Hasegawa, China’s Meimei Lin/Jinjin Zeng and France’s Aline Chamereau/Alexandra Jupiter.
Source: Volley - fivb.org
