Wilkerson, Humana-Paredes to play for beach volleyball gold on home sand in Montreal | CBC Sports

Backed by a raucous home crowd, Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes rebounded from a second-set loss Sunday to advance to the women’s final of the Montreal Elite16 beach volleyball event.

The left-handed Wilkerson found a hole deep in the backcourt to cement a 15-11 victory in the third and final set against Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia of China, who prevailed 21-17 in the second set.

The 26th-ranked Canadians will face world No. 11 Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles in the 6 p.m. ET gold-medal match after the Americans defeated the Dutch tandem of Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon 21-18, 21-19 in the other semifinal.

China was scheduled to meet the Netherlands in the third-place game at 3:30 p.m.

Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes, from Toronto, have placed no worse than fifth at each of their five competitions this season, including a gold-medal victory last month in Jurmala, Latvia.

They outscored Chen and Xinyi 35-26 on the attack but were outblocked 6-2 while each squad picked up recorded four aces.

Wilkerson posted back-to-back aces to cap a first-set win.

Canada stormed out to a 5-1 lead in the third set, highlighted by a Humana-Paredes cross-court point and Wilkerson ace.

A resilient Chinese duo, however, fought back to close the deficit to 8-6. Following a timeout, Canada extended its lead to 11-7, only for its opponent to stay close, trailing 13-11.

The teams exchanged points in the first half of the opening set. The match remained close, with China taking an 18-16 lead, before the Canadians clawed back and drew event at 19-19.

WATCH | Full coverage of Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes’s 3-set semifinal win:

FIVB Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 Montreal semifinal match: Canada vs. China

Watch Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson face China’s Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia in the semifinals at the 2023 FIVB Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 from Montreal.

In the second set, the Chinese were up 11-9 when it appeared their serve went long and out of bounds. Humana-Paredes, standing a few feet from the line, raised her arm to signal the ball was out but to no avail.

Chen and Xinyi led by as many as five points at 14-9 but Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes made it tough for them to build on the advantage.

• Canada cut the deficit to 15-13 on a Wilkerson kill after a long rally.
• Humana-Paredes tipped a shot that landed a couple of feet inside the line to close to within 16-14.
• A Wilkerson ace pulled the Canadians to within 17-16.

But Chen and Xinyi, who captured gold at the Itapema Challenge in April, responded with a 3-0 run en route to victory.

Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 victory over world No. 3 Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth of the United States on Saturday.

WATCH l Canada tops U.S. in Montreal Elite16 quarterfinals:

Scott Russell speaks with Canadian beach volleyball players Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes

Canada’s top women’s beach volleyball team of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes talk to Scott Russell about recent success on the sand.

Chen and Xinyi reunited on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour this season after Chen, a 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist, returned to the sand after nearly a two-year absence. They were partners for the first time between 2013 and 2016.

Sunday’s semifinal appearance was their first at an Elite16 event. They took down Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti 21-17, 21-11 in the quarterfinals.

Scoles and Flint had a productive Saturday, beating fellow Americans and Tokyo Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho of Australia in the round of 12 (21-17, 21-10) before upending world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos of Brazil in the quarterfinals (14-21, 21-19, 17-15).

WATCH l CBC Sports’ Scott Russell speaks with Wilkerson, Humana-Paredes: