Canadians split weekend results at Montreal Elite16

Canada's beach volleyball teams wrapped up the Montreal Elite16 stop with a pair of bronze medals, highlighted by an upset of the world's top-ranked men's pair.

Sam Schachter of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Jonathan Pickett of Wiarton, Ont., defeated Norway's Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen 2-1 (16-21, 28-26, 15-12) in the men's third-place match, as reported by The Globe and Mail. The win capped a strong tournament for the Ontario duo, who had earlier stunned the world No. 1 Swedish team of Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson in the quarterfinals.

The 39th-ranked Canadians downed the Swedes 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) in Saturday's quarterfinal action at Parc Jean-Drapeau, according to multiple reports. They also ousted Austria's Alexander Horst and Paul Pascariuc earlier that day.

The semifinal proved more difficult, as Schachter and Pickett lost a narrow 2-1 (21-19, 16-21, 16-14) decision to Brazil's Renato Andrew Lima de Carvalho and André Loyola Stein on Sunday morning, a result carried by CBC and The Globe and Mail. That defeat sent them to the bronze match, where they rallied after dropping the first set.

Pickett credited in-match adjustments for the turnaround. "Today it was the shifting of the strategies throughout the match," he said. "As you can see in the first set nothing was really working. There was a big score difference and then in the second and third set we changed strategies. A couple of reminders to ourselves on blocking and serving … little tweaks and no hesitation, we fully executed." The quote appeared in The Globe and Mail's coverage.

The Globe and Mail noted that this was the first major Elite tournament win for Schachter, who previously earned silver with Josh Binstock at the FIVB Porec Major in Croatia in June 2015.

Women's three-peat bid falls short

On the women's side, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson saw their hopes of a third straight Montreal title end in Sunday's semifinals. The Toronto duo lost 2-1 to Brazil's Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes, with set scores of 19-21, 22-20 and 15-7, as reported by The Globe and Mail. CBC's coverage identified the Brazilian pair as Thamela Galil and Victoria Tosta and listed the same set scores in a different order, 21-19, 20-22, 15-7.

Wilkerson led Canada with 29 total points, including 20 kills, eight blocks and a serve point, while Humana-Paredes added 13 points with 12 kills and a serve point, according to CBC.

The Canadians bounced back to claim bronze, defeating Germany's Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann 2-1 (20-22, 21-12, 18-16) in the third-place match, a result reported by The Globe and Mail.

Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson had won the Montreal titles in 2023 and 2025, with an Olympic silver medal in between. The Elite16 tour did not have a Montreal stop in 2024, according to The Globe and Mail.

Earlier in the tournament, the Canadians advanced by beating Latvia's Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka 22-20, 21-18 in Saturday's quarterfinals, as reported by TSN. That report noted the Canadians had more blocks and digs than their rivals.

The Brazilian duo of Coradello and Lopes, who had earlier defeated the American team of Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg 21-17, 13-21, 18-16 to reach the final, were scheduled to face Americans Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher for the title, according to The Globe and Mail. In the men's final, Lima de Carvalho and Loyola Stein were set to take on Norway's Anders Mol and Christian Sorum.

Live coverage of the tournament was available on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, as noted in CBC's reporting.