Heather Bansley / Brandie Wilkerson Canada (5) def. Sanne Keizer / Madelein Meppelink Netherlands (8) 21-19, 21-15 (35)
Heather Bansley, Canada – “I’m really happy to come away with a ‘W.’ We were a little unsteady to start, then we smoothed out and steadied out and Brandie had some really good blocks. We picked up our defense when it mattered and sided out pretty smoothly. All the teams a really strong here so there are no easy matches. We’ve come a long way, we’re working hard and we both feel like we have more to give. It’s exciting to see where we are but we can also improve.”
Brandie Wilkerson, Canada – “We steadied out, we really cleaned up some of those mistakes we were making at the beginning and zoned in on our game plan. Heather made some amazing digs that made it easier for me to get some blocks. We expect to play our best and let the score show for itself. Any danger is to think that winning a match here means you’re good to go for the rest of the tournament. Every game is a new game and it’s going to provide a new challenge and that keeps us on our toes even more. I think we know each other really well now. It’s our second season, we’re very pen to try new things still and perfecting some of the things we are strong at. It’s nice to complement each other now.”
Madelein Meppelink, The Netherlands – “We made a couple of mistakes in the first set and they just started playing better and better. In the second set, they just were the better team. We couldn’t really pressure them with our serve and they had a really good side out. Canada played really well and we didn’t play good enough.”