Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson of Toronto, Ontario won the silver medal at the Elite 16 Women’s Beach Volleyball event in Doha, Qatar on Saturday. The silver medal in Doha was the third Elite 16 medal that Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson have had together in women’s beach volleyball. They previously won two medals last year–gold in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and bronze in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
In Doha, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson went through Pool D in second place with a record of two wins and one loss. They defeated the German duo of Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann 21-17, 21-17, and the Chinese duo of Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi 21-18, 21-18. Their lone loss came to Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova by a score of 10-21, 24-22, 15-13.
In the round of 12, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson beat the Brazilian duo of Agatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti 16-21, 21-17, 15-11, and then beat another Brazilian team in Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Duda Santos Lisboa in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson got revenge on Graudina and Samoilova as they came through with a 21-17, 20-22, 15-12 win. Then in the finals, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson faced another Brazilian team in Carolina Solberg Salgado and Barbara Seixas, before losing 21-18, 21-18. Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng of the United States won bronze. The silver medal for Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
