RIO DE JANEIRO -- Canadian beach volleyball players Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk were pushed to the limit in their win over host country Brazil on Tuesday.
After dropping the opening set 21-17 to Brazilians Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior and Pedro Solberg, Saxton and Schalk forged a comeback, winning the remaining two sets 21-18, 16-14.
"They got off to a jump in the first, but we were just able to grind 'em down and keep pushing, so I'm proud of our fight today," said Schalk, of Red Deer, Alta.
"The (mainly Brazilian) crowd didn't really rattle us, it just gave us more energy -- it was fun."
Schalk and Calgary native Saxton lost their opening tournament match Sunday to Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia.
The Canadian pair will wrap up pool play Wednesday when they take on Cubans Nivaldo Nadhir Diaz Gomez and Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez Bayard.
On Tuesday night, Jamie Broder of Victoria and Kristina Valjas of Toronto lost 21-17, 21-11 to Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst.
Later on Tuesday, Sarah Pavan of Kitchener, Ont., and Heather Bansley of Waterdown, Ont., downed Switzerland's Joana Heidrich and Nadine Zumkehr in two sets 21-18, 21-18. Pavan and Bansley are in first place in Pool E.
