Article taken from www.volleyball.ca - by Larry Humber

It wasn’t the best of days for the nine remaining Canadian entries at the 2007 Montreal Open, the only North American stop on the International Volleyball Federation’s (FIVB’s) World Beach Tour, as only veterans Mark Heese and Ahren Cadieux managed to win both their matches. Heese, a three-time Olympian, finished second in Montreal with former partner John Child in 2002. He and Cadieux edged fellow Canadians Jason Kruger and Wes Montgomery 21-19, 21-15 in their opener, then returned in early evening to best scrappy Venezuelans Jackson Henriquez-Igor Hernandez 21-23, 21-18 and 16-14. A Cadieux ace ended that contest. The Venezuelans had defeated another Canadian twosome, Jessi Lelliott and Martin Reader, early in the day. Lelliott-Reader subsequently fell to Kruger and Montgomery and were eliminated.

Cape Town-born Kruger and Montgomery, a Calgary native, stayed alive with the win. It’s been a good few weeks for them, as they recently learned they will represent Canada at the upcoming Pan American Games. Another Canadian pair, Rich van Huizen and late fill-in Steve "The Iceman" Delaney, narrowly lost to a better-regarded Italian side in their first match despite taking the opening set, and so needed a win over a Georgian twosome in evening play to remain in contention.

The fifth Canadian men’s pair, Chris Simek and Paul Podstawka, were eliminated after dropping both their matches, one of them to top seeds and defending Olympic champions Ricardo and Emanuel of Brazil. On the women’s side, three of the four Canadian teams managed to split their two matches to stay in the hunt. Fan favorites Marie-Andree Lessard and Sarah Maxwell, University of Laval teammates Caroline Fiset and Isabelle Rancourt and 2004 Olympian Annie Martin and new teammate Dana Cooke bested French, German and Spanish tandems, respectively. Martin-Cooke had to work hardest, their match finishing 21-19, 20-22 and 15-12. Reigning Canadian champion Kara Zakrzewski and Chelsea Grimson were swept by Brazilian and French teams to end their bid.