Canada's Chaim Schalk, Ben Saxton beat Brazil in Olympic beach v-ball
Canadians square record at 1-1
By Doug Harrison, CBC Sports
Ben Saxton's ace lifted he and partner Chaim Schalk to a third-set win and 2-1 victory (17-21, 21-18, 16-14) over Brazil's Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Jr. and Pedro Solberg in preliminary Olympic beach volleyball action in Rio on Tuesday.
It was the second three-set thriller for the Canadians to open the Olympic tournament after they dropped a 2-1 decision to Latvia's Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins on Sunday.
"They got off to a jump in the first [set], but we were just able to grind 'em down and keep pushing, so I'm proud of our fight today," Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., told reporters in Brazil.
"The [mainly Brazilian] crowd didn't really rattle us, it just gave us more energy — it was fun."
Next up for Schalk and Saxton is the Cuban tandem of Nivaldo Nadhir Diaz Gomez and Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez in their final match of pool play Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. In their Rio opener, the Cubans prevailed 2-1 over Brazil, a perennial powerhouse at the Summer Games.
For a few seconds it appeared the Canadians had won Tuesday's match with a well executed attack when leading 14-13 but one of them was whistled for touching the net and Brazil drew even. Saxton's ensuing shot touched one of the Brazilians to put Canada in front before his ace. The Calgary native delivered his first ace of the tournament midway through the second set.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CAN?src=hash">#CAN</a> takes the 2nd set against <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BRA?src=hash">#BRA</a>. WATCH the 3rd set LIVE NOW <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeachVolleyball?src=hash">#BeachVolleyball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rio2016?src=hash">#Rio2016</a> <a href="https://t.co/aSch9f0bGd">https://t.co/aSch9f0bGd</a> <a href="https://t.co/KZVmrlKatI">https://t.co/KZVmrlKatI</a>
—@CBCOlympicsHow tense and exciting was the match at Beach Volleyball Arena? Consider this: Neither team held more than a three-point advantage in the second and third sets, with Schalk and Saxton holding the biggest leads of the final set at 12-10 and 14-12.
Whenever the Canadians tried to extend a lead, they were often met by a Solberg block or massive kill by the six-foot-11 Oliveira. Brazil finished 34-of-52 on the attack compared to 30-of-52 for Canada.
Schalk and Saxton held the biggest leads in the final set at 12-10 and 14-12. In the second set, Canada led 12-9 but Brazil fought back to make it 14-14. Consecutive kills by Schalk put Canada ahead 18-16 but Saxton later put the ball in the net to allow the Brazilians to close to within one at 19-18.
However, Schalk and Saxton persevered and teamed for perhaps the play of the match when Saxton travelled several feet out of bounds for a huge dig to return the ball to his partner, who slammed the ball into the sand for a 20-18 advantage ahead of another Saxton ace to win the set.
In other Canadian beach volleyball action Tuesday, Jamie Broder and Kristina Valjas meet Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst at 5:30 p.m. ET. Both squads are 1-0.