Team Canada is in the gold medal game on Friday in women’s beach volleyball at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On Thursday in the first of two semifinals, Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Toronto, Ontario defeated the Switzerland duo of Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner 14-21, 22-20, 15-12.
The difference maker on the Thursday sand was clearly Wilkerson, who had a remarkable seven points off of block shots. She also led the game with 17 attack points. When it came to the serve, Wilkerson had one aces, while Humana-Paredes had two aces.
Team Canada bounced back quite nicely after being a bit sluggish in the opening set in the match. Switzerland actually had match point in the second set, but could not put away a very gritty Canadian squad who won the right points at the right time in the second half of the encounter.
Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Duda Santos Lisboa beat Australia’s Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy 20-22, 21-15, 15-12. This is a very special time in Canadian women’s beach volleyball indeed. This is the first time ever that the Canada beach volleyball team is playing in an Olympic gold medal game. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Canada’s John Child and Mark Heese of Toronto won bronze as they defeated Portugal 12-5, 12-8.
