Pavan, Humana-Paredes grind out victory at beach volleyball worlds to stay unbeaten

Defending women's champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes weren't as sharp two days after their beach volleyball world opener but still managed to eke out a 22-20, 21-19 decision for their second straight win in sun-soaked Rome.

The Canadian duo struggled to put away Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard of France, particularly in the second set when they blew several leads and served poorly at times, which plagued them a week ago at the Pro Tour Elite 16event in Latvia.

But the 2020 Olympians, with the temperature hovering around 33 C, remained calm and will face Germany's Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz (1-1) in their final Pool J match on Monday at 10 a.m. ET that can be streamed live on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes secured their second win in Rome with a pair of shots down the middle inside the back line after a Placette kill tied the second set 19-19.

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