MONTREAL — The Canadian duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson picked a fine time to be beasts on the beach.
The pair knocked off two of the world's top three volleyball teams in the world on Saturday to earn a spot in Sunday's semifinals of the Pro Beach Tour Elite 16 in Montreal.
In their first match of the day, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson faced second-ranked Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng of the United States. It was a good test, but the Canadians (ranked 26th) passed with flying colours, mounting an epic third-set comeback to upset the Americans and advance to the quarterfinals. Final set scores were 21-19, 19-21, 17-15.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, both of Toronto, were hoping to play spoiler in the quarters, too, facing another American foe, third-ranked Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth. And the Canadians came through. With the hometown fans getting rowdier and rowdier as the match went on, the Canucks dispatched the Americans in three sets, 21-15, 14-21, 15-8.
"This tournament has challenged us, every team is hard to play against," Humana-Paredes said. "We’re still getting our footing together, to continually produce these performances, but we definitely belong here — there’s no question in our mind."
In Sunday’s semifinals, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will do battle with Xue and X. Y. Xia of China, who also knocked off a few top-ranked teams en route to the medal round.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2023.
The Canadian Press