The Beach Grand Slam returned with a banger this past weekend after a 5 year hiatus.
Temperatures soared to record highs down at the beach but the scorching sand didn't slow down the players as fans and fellow athletes were treated to some top level action all across Ashbridges Bay Beach Volleyball courts, but especially on feature court.
Photos and videos from the event can be found on ova socials @ova_updates as well as in a Flickr Grand Slam Album, or continue on down this page to find full game recordings
Mens Open
In the men's division the pair of Liam Espedido and Markus Law-Heese were on a different level all weekend, not dropping a set en route to a 21-14, 21-18 victory in the gold medal game.
The pairing of Canada NextGen athletes Steven Abrams and Tynan Gannett were a tough matchup but just couldn't pull out the victory. They came into the finals off the back of probably the match of the tournament, a 21-19, 18-21, 16-14 victory in the semi finals over Robert Kemp and Cameron Chadwick.
Kemp and Chadwick, a combo of the 2024 and 2025 Scarborough Solars Award winners would take home the bronze.
Womens Open
The women's bracket was dominated by another pair of Canada NextGen athletes as Marie-Alex Belanger and Lea Monkhouse cruised to a 21-15, 21-11 victory. The pair had been far and away the best team on the beach over the two days not dropping a set and winning 15 of their 18 sets by at least 5 points.
Silver medalists Rhea Kohl and Taija Thomas were undefeated coming into the finals and showed a lot of skill and determination but struggled to slow down their opponents.
Calinda Kok and Katarina Pantovic dropped their semi final to Monkhouse and Belanger before defeating Emma Kunaus and Maya McNabney in a tightly contested 21-16, 16-21, 15-5 match to capture the bronze.
Youth Open
Over on the Youth Open courts there were a bunch of three set barnburners for the hardware.
In the 20U Boys division, Yahia Elsayed and Brendan Lyons roared back to take home the gold with a 16-21, 21-12, 15-10 win over Ross Buchanan and Conner Spencer. Over in the bronze medal match, Rutger Huntley and Ian Johnson outlasted Andrew Huebel and Zachary Sirota 13-21, 21-17, 15-6 to take third palce.
The 20U Girls division was captured by Mikaela Dioso-Lopez and Polina Chestak in a tight 17-21, 22-20, 15-10 matchup against Delfina Henson and Renee Shaw. The bronze medal was yet another comeback win as Maria Silvestri and Ella Hammond won two straight after dropping the first set to defeat Teagan Adamo and Naomi Zinn 15-21, 21-16, 15-10.
Games On-Demand
Don't miss a second of action from the 2025 Beach Grand Slam!
Weren't able to make it to the beach? Or decided to hide from those scorching temperatures? Don't worry, we got you!
Over the weekend matches were streamed from the Adult Feature Court and recorded from the Youth Open feature courts and everything is available over on CBC Sports Local (formerly CBC Connect).
For more information about the Grand Slam Event as well as schedules and results, please head over to our Grand Slam micro-page
Check out all the action via the links below!
Adult Feature Court:
Youth Open Feature Court - Female:
Youth Open Female Gold Medal Game