Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson won gold at a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event in Ostrava, Czechia, sweeping Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon 2-0 in the final after earlier semifinal and quarterfinal wins.
In Ostrava, the moment finally went the Canadians’ way.
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson closed out the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour event Sunday with a clean 2-0 victory over the Netherlands’ Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon. The scoreline read 21-16, 21-14 as Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson controlled the match from start to finish.
For Humana-Paredes, the win carried extra weight in a place she clearly feels at home. “We finally won in Ostrava,” she said. “It’s our favourite tournament on tour.”
She also explained the personal momentum behind the title. “We had a bronze and a silver coming into this so we knew we wanted gold to finish the trifecta. Playing in Ostrava is always incredible because the crowd makes every game so special. They truly appreciate beach volleyball and we feel so loved.”.
Their route to the final had already shown how tightly this week was being contested. On Saturday, Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson beat Switzerland’s Joana Mäder and Leona Kernen 2-1 in the semifinals, setting up the final sweep.
Before that, they were tested in the quarterfinals. On Saturday as well, the Canadians—Olympic silver medallists—earned a 2-0 (21-17, 23-21) win over Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, the 2025 world champions.
Wilkerson pointed to the grind of the full week as the foundation for this result. “We were pushed all tournament by incredible athletes the entire week,” she said. “Our team has been preparing, working hard and it’s years in the making.”
She described the day-to-day work required to pull details together under pressure. “It’s also a lot of communication, finding things out and being gritty. And we wanted it; we really wanted gold in Ostrava this time.”
With the final sweep over Stam and Schoon, Ostrava now belongs to Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson—turning prior podium finishes into the top step they’d come to take.
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Canada Humana-Paredes Brandie Wilkerson Katja Stam Raisa Schoon Joana Mäder Leona Kernen Tina Graudina Anastasija Samoilova
Beach volleyball players always go hard, congrats I guess.
Wait so they beat the Netherlands 2-0?? That’s wild. I didn’t even know this tournament was in Czechia till now. Volleyball is way more intense than people think.
Ostrava sounds like a hockey team name lol. But if they “finally won in Ostrava” then why mention bronze and silver like that’s not the same thing? I feel like bronze is still good? Either way 21-16 21-14 is pretty lopsided.
The article says “sweep” like it was one game but it was 2 sets? I’m confused. Also I thought the Canadians always win, but apparently not until Ostrava. I just watch highlights and somehow my brain reads it like a total knockout. Anyway congrats to Melissa and Brandie for the trifecta thing.