FIVB: Prague Czech Republic Main Draw (Live Video)

May 18, 2011 Cameron Kerr

Main draw action begins today at the Prague stop on the 2011 Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Two of the four Canadian teams have made it through the qualification round. Martin Reader and Chaim Schalk lost first round to Varenhorst-Stiekema from the Netherlands and Christian Redmann and Ben Saxton were defeated in the second round to the Russian team of Romashkin-Hudyakov.

Rich Van Huizen and Josh Binstock made their way to the main draw by defeating Brits Garcia-Thompson-Grotowski in the third round of the qualification round. They are seeded 30th going into the main draw and have their first round match up against the Brazillian powerhouse of Marcio Araujo-Ricardo.

Maverick Hatch and Sam Schachter (playing in their third FIVB event) have also made the main draw by ways of Estonia's Vesik-Jaani. Mav and Sam only had 18 entry points going into this tournament, so making the main draw on their third event together is big for them. They are seeded 32nd of 32 teams and will be playing Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser from The United States. Phil and Todd are ranked first in the world, are defending Olympic gold medalists and have won both men's stops this year on the 2011 FIVB tour.

So both Canadian men's teams have their work cut out for them tomorrow, but getting playing experience against two of the best teams in the world is priceless. Check out the live streams below to watch our Canadian men take on the best in the world tomorrow.

Canadian Teams in the Main Draw

	Binstock-Van Huizen	vs.		Marcio Araujo-Ricardo	6:00 a.m. EST
	Hatch-Schachter	vs.		Rogers-Dalhausser	5:00 a.m. EST

Live Streams

Which games in the main draw are you most looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments.

Update on 2011-05-19 16:25 by Cameron Kerr

Rogers-Dalhausser defeated Hatch-Schachter in round one of the main draw 2-0. The set scores were 21-19 and 21-11. I was unable to get up early to watch this one, but I'm shocked/excited/happy/blown away that Sam and Mav were able to get 19 in the first set. The second set scores were a little bit closer to what I was predicting. I'm excited they got to play and test their game against the number one team in the world. In the second round Sam and Mav lost to Geor-Gia of Georgia (I think that's what GEO is) 1-2. The set scores were 11-21, 21-11, 10-15. Third FIVB together and a main draw exit ranked at 25th is nothing to be ashamed of. Good job guys.

Marcio Araujo-Ricardo of Brazil defeated Josh Binstock and Rich Van Huizen 2-0 in round one of the main draw. The set scores were 21-18 each. Very happy to see high scores coming from the Canadians when playing against one of the top teams in the world. In the second round they were also eliminated finishing 25th. They lost to Mesa-Lario of Spain 0-2. The set scores were 19-21, 15-21.