NORCECA: Canadians Silver in Cayman Islands

Canada's Taylor Pischke and Melissa Humana-Paredes (left) finished second at the first NORCECA Beach stop of the season in the Cayman Islands  Photo: NORCECA

The NORCECA Beach Tour kicked off this weekend down in the Cayman Islands, and Canada's Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke started their season with a spot on the podium.  

The pair was perfect through pool play and defeated USA-B (12-21, 26-24, 15-12) in the semis to move on to the final. In the gold medal match they were up against USA-A who was also undefeated. The girls battled it out in the first, taking it 23-21, but Gold wasn't in their cards. The American of Tealle Hunkus and Kimberly McGiven pair stormed back to take the second 21-10 and grab the the decider 15-9 to clinch their first-ever NORCECA Gold. 

A few other Canadian teams were competing in the Cayman Islands as well. Andrew Hinchey and Ryan Vandenburg were a spot shy of the podium, falling to two-time defending champs Puerto Rico in the bronze. The same team of Reberto Rodriguez and Erik Haddock also ended Cam Wheelan and Mike Plantinga's tournament in the quarterfinals leaving them with a fifth-place finish. Claudia Seguin and Brandie Wilkerson also finished in fifth.