Volleyball Canada – February 26, 2016:  At the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Maceio Open in Brazil, Ben Saxton of Calgary and Chaim Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., finished as the highest ranked Canadian team at ninth overall on Friday. 

 
“It’s a decent start to our season,” said Schalk, after Italians Ranghieri/Carambula beat them 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) in the second round of playoffs today. “We came here to play a bunch of matches and help us prepare for a long season ahead. We are now looking forward to a good training camp in Rio then competing in the Grand Slam (March 8 to 13) there.” 
 
Earlier today, the Canadians beat Kunert/Dressler of Austria 2-0 (21-14, 21-18).
 
Other Canadian final standings at Maceio included Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter 17th, Sam Pedlow/Grant O’Gorman 25th and Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas the only female entry at 25th. 
 
One of several events in Brazil on the 2015/2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar, Maceió was the first double-gender event of the year.  The highlight of the year will be the beach volleyball tournament at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August.  For more on the FIVB World Tour, see www.fivb.org

Teams are vying for points toward Olympic qualification. The provisional Olympic rankings can be found here:

• Men: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/OGRanking_M.asp
• Women: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/OGRanking_W.asp

Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender
E-mail: jskender@volleyball.ca
Phone: 613.794.7676