In front of a raucous crowd at Pan Am Park, Canada’s Women’s beach volley ball team of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke defeated the Costa Rican duo of Karen Cope and Nathalia Alfaro in two straight sets, 21-12 and 21-12. It was another dominant performance on the sand for the girls, who have not lost a single set in their four matches thus far.
Canadian Women Pischke and Humana-Paredes Advance to Semi-Finals
The game was pretty even early, with Costa Rica scoring points on a number of drop shots in front of Pischke as she backed off from the net awaiting a powerful serve. However, mid-way through the first set, the Canadians adjusted, with Pischke not backing off so far. Once this happened the Costa Ricans were unable to find another weapon to consistently attack the Canadians, and Pischke and Humana-Paredes rolled to the victory.
“We noticed that was what their strategy was, to make me move a lot,” commented Pischke after the match. “That’s usually a shot that I struggle with. We knew I had to move up a bit, and Mel shifted over, and we were able to shut that down for the most part. That made a big difference in the match.”
A difference in this match, compared to previous Canadian opponents, was that Costa Ricans avoided Pischke off the serve, instead concentrating on serving to Humana-Paredes. Humana-Paredes was more than up to the challenge, using a variety of cut shots and finesse plays to avoid the Costa Rican blocks, and consistently find winners down the lines and in the corners.
“I was suprised that they were serving Taylor earlier in the week. People wanted to test the waters after a tournament in Switzerland where we had to pull out due to injury,” said Humana-Paredes. “We are all healthy right now, and I think I’ll be seeing a lot more play heading into the medal rounds.”
Canada knows they will have the home crowd support in the Sunday’s Semi-Final which goes at 3:00 pm eastern.
“Its an amazing event, with everyone cheering for us, its a great atmosphere” said Piscke.
Facing their rivals from Cuba won’t be easy though. The two teams have played three matches this year, with all three going the full three sets.
“Every game we are getting better, and thats really comforting heading into our semi-final game with Cuba who are going to be very, very strong. We’ve played them a few times before, and every game has been a good game,” said Humana-Paredis. “We are after the gold medal and we really want that bad boy.”
Main Photo via Kevin Gamble, Last Word On Sports, all rights reserved.
