The Canadian beach volleyball pair comprising Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson secured a spot in the semifinals of the Montreal Elite16 tournament by defeating Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka with a scoreline of 22-20, 21-18 during the quarterfinal match on Saturday. The Canadians displayed superior performance in blocks and digs to outshine their opponents. They will now face Thamela Galil and Victoria Tosta from Brazil in the upcoming semifinal clash. In a thrilling encounter, Galil and Tosta overcame the American duo of Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg in a close match that ended 21-17, 13-21, 18-16.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, who have previously clinched the titles in 2023 and 2025 along with an Olympic silver, expressed their preparation strategy for the upcoming match against Brazil. The duo emphasized reviewing the game footage to analyze the strengths of their opponents and capitalize on their previous successful tactics used during the pool play against the Brazilian team.
On a parallel note, the Ontario pair of Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett caused a significant upset in the men’s category of the FIVB Beach Pro Tournament. Ranked 39th, the Canadian duo defeated the world No. 1 team comprising Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson with a convincing 2-0 victory (21-19, 21-17) in the quarterfinals at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Schachter and Pickett, representing Richmond Hill and Wiarton respectively, also eliminated Austria’s Alexander Horst and Paul Pascariuc earlier in the day.
Reflecting on their triumph against the top-seeded team, Schachter attributed their success to consistent and high-quality performance rather than flashy plays. The Canadian duo is set to face Brazil’s Renato Andrew Lima de Carvalho and Andre Stein in the semifinals scheduled for Sunday morning.