Team Canada is in the quarterfinals of women’s beach volleyball at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On Monday, the Canadian team of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson knocked off the United States in the round of 16, by a score of 21-19, 21-18.
Humana-Paredes led Canada with 19 points, while Wilkerson had 17 points. Of Humana-Paredes’s 19 points, 15 were from the attack and four points were aces. Of Wilkerson’s 17 points, 11 points were from the attack, five were from blocked shots and there was one ace.
There is no doubt that Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson did not perform the way they wanted to in the round robin. They only finished in third place in Pool D at one win and two losses, after a 21-18, 13-21, 15-11 loss to Esmee Bobner and Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland on Wednesday, and a 21-14, 2-20 loss to Tina Laura Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia on Friday.
However, the win over the American duo of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth should give the Canadians a massive boost of confidence going forward. Nuss and Kloth are ranked second in the world, and won the bronze medal at the 2023 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Tiaxcala, Mexico.
Next up for Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson in the quarterfinals are Spain (August 7 at 9 am MT). The other quarterfinals have Switzerland versus Australia, Switzerland versus the United States, and Latvia versus Brazil.
