Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson sweep 2 matches to open beach volleyball season in Doha
4th-ranked Canadians 'hungry' to reach another level in Olympic year
Canada's Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes are off to an outstanding start to a new beach volleyball season they hope leads to an Olympic medal in Paris this summer.
They opened with a 21-17, 21-17 victory over Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippman of Germany in Pool D play Wednesday at the first Elite16 event of the year in Doha, Qatar. About four hours later, they blanked China's Xue Chen and Xia Xinyi by identical 21-18 scores.
The Toronto duo also ended the 2023 campaign in Doha, finishing fifth at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Finals in December following a 21-17, 21-14 quarterfinal loss to Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss.
Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes play their final pool match Thursday at 5 a.m. ET against Latvia's Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina, who are ranked 12th in the world. Three months ago, they won their first Beach Pro Tour event at the Nuvali Challenge in the Philippines.
In their first match Wednesday, Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes were edged 22-20 on the attack and posted four more errors than their German opponents but dominated at the service line (5-1) and in blocking (5-3).
The Canadians each had 10 attack points, with Wilkerson adding five block points and her partner racking up three aces.
WATCH | Full match coverage from Doha: Canada vs. China:
Against Xue and Xia, Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes led on the attack (31-25) and in blocking (6-0) while the Chinese tandem had three aces compared to zero by Canada.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson have only been partners for only one international season but worked their way to fourth in the world rankings.
"We were learning as we were playing, which turned out to be such a fun challenge with Brandie," Humana-Paredes told Volleyball World recently.
"I left the 2023 season proud that we hit our marks, but also hungry, because I know there's another level to us."
Watch live coverage from Doha at 1 a.m. ET Thursday and Friday on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem, with action continuing Saturday at 2 a.m. ET.
The Canadians placed at least fifth in each of their nine appearances at Beach Pro Tour tournaments and the world championship in Mexico.
They won gold medals at the Jurmala Challenge and Montreal Elite16, and a bronze at the Ostrava Elite16.
"We had that added pressure of needing to perform right away to get Olympic points while figuring out new systems and getting into rhythm as a new team," Humana-Paredes said.
Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson were also Canada's flag-bearers at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where they captured the country's first women's beach volleyball medal at the Games with silver.
On Tuesday, a Canadian women's and men's duo failed to advance to the main draw.
Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec of Toronto lost 21-15, 23-21 to Austria's Klinger sisters, Ronja and Dorina.
On the men's side, Canada's Daniel Dearing & Sam Schachter were eliminated by Americans Chaim Schalk and Tri Bourne (21-18, 15-21, 15-10).
WATCH l Humana-Paredes, Wilkerson's quarterfinal loss at 2023 Beach Pro Tour Finals:
