Wilkerson, Humana-Paredes in beach volleyball semis in Latvia after pair of sweeps | CBC Sports

Toronto’s Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes will play for a second beach volleyball medal this month.

They won all four games across two sets on Saturday, securing a spot in the semifinals of the Beach Pro Tour Challenge against home crowd favourites Anastasija Samoilova and Tina Graudina at 4 p.m. ET Sunday in Jurmala, Latvia.

In the other semifinal, Taina Bigi and Victoria Lopes of Brazil face Swiss duo Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner.

Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes won bronze on June 4 at the Ostrava Elite16 tournament in the Czech Republic, defeating Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli of Switzerland in straight sets.

Humana-Paredes had a match-high 20 boards and Wilkerson counted five blocks in a 2-0 quarterfinal victory (22-20, 21-16) over Chinese qualifiers Dong Jie and Wang Fan.

The third-seeded Canadians started the day with a pair of 21-14 wins over Lithuanian tandem Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte in the round of 16.

Samoilova and Graudina also swept their opponents Saturday en route to the semifinals.

Graudina led the way with a match-high 22 points, including three blocks and an ace.

After a relatively one-sided 21-13 first-set win over Italians Claudia Scampoli and Margherita Bianchin, the Latvians eked out a 21-19 verdict.

In the eighthfinals, Samoilova and Graudina dominated at the service line with a combined seven aces, including five by the former.

Sunday’s bronze match is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the gold-medal contest at 10:30 a.m.