Canada's Wilkerson, Humana-Paredes eliminated in quarterfinals of Swiss beach volleyball event

Canada's Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes lost a tight quarterfinal match to Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes at the Elite16 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour stop in Gstaad, Switzerland, on Saturday.

The No. 5-ranked American team trailed through much of their 2-1 victory (20-22, 21-18, 15-11), but went on timely runs to defeat Canada.

The American duo is looking to secure their second win on the BPT Elite16 tour after their victory in Tepic, Mexico, a March tournament that marked the second outing of the season together for Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes.

The Canadian pair went 2-1 in Pool B play in Gstaad with straight-sets victories over Latvia and Switzerland, narrowly edging Australia for the top spot in the group despite falling 2-1 (21-16, 17-21, 15-13) to the No. 2-ranked team on Thursday.

The first-place finish set up a quarterfinal match with the 2-1 American squad that finished second in Pool C.

Neither team could gather much momentum in the first set until the U.S. rattled off four straight points to make it 19-17, forcing Canada to take a timeout.

The Canadian duo then proceeded to take five of the next six points to win the opening set 22-20.

Canada held the lead through much of the second set, but Hughes and Cheng dug deep with four straight points to bring the game to within one at break, 11-10.

Humana-Paredes starred early in the second half, with a dig followed by a spike to make it 14-11, and a deft touch at the net to elevate the ball over Cheng and bring the score to 16-12.

The U.S. once again battled back to tie the game at both 17 and 18, and Cheng made a huge defensive play of her own to give the U.S. their first lead at 19-18, followed by an attack to move within one point of the