Over in Myslowice, Poland main draw action commences today on the women's side of the 2011 Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. While the two Canadian women's pairings in the qualification round did not make the main draw, we do have two more teams who will be playing tomorrow. Team Lessard-Martin will be paired up in the first round against Bawden-Palmer of Australia. This team from Oz is the duo responsible for ending the hopes of Canadians MacTavish-Rodrigue in the second round of the qualification round. The other Canadian women's duo in the main draw are Liz Maloney and Heather Bansley who were awarded a wild card entry, allowing them to bypass qualifications and start directly in the Myslowice main draw. Liz and Heather will be playing the sixth seeded team of Keizer-Van Iersel of the Netherlands. Math ups and live stream links below.
Canadian Teams in the Main Draw
 |
Bansley-Maloney | vs. |  |
Keizer-Van Iersel | 6:00 a.m. EST |
|
Lessard-Martin | vs. |  |
Bawden-Palmer | 7:00 a.m. EST |
Live stream links after the jump.
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 qualificaiton 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 qualificaiton 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 stream links after the jump.
Men's beach volleyball qualification begins in Prague. Photo: fivb.orgWhile two of the women's teams already qualified for the main draw, the men are all fighting out for a spot in their own main draw in Prague. The first round match ups for the four Canadian men's duos are:
 | Binstock-Van Huizen | vs. |  | Mykhaylov-Ostapenko |
| Hatch-Schachter | vs. |  | Barsouk-Yutvalin |
| Reader-Schalk | vs. |  | Varenhorst-Stiekema |
| Redmann-Saxton | vs. |  | Mourtzios-Niopas |
Live stream links after the jump.
The qualification round starts today in Myslowice. Photo: fivb.orgToday marks the end of country quota games and the begining of the qualification round for the FIVB beach volleyball world tour Myslowice, Poland tour stop. We posted yesterday that we have four Canadian women's teams at this event but only two of them will be playing in the qualifcation round. Team Lessard-Martin got an entry into the main draw due to their entry points and Bansley-Maloney were awarded a wild card entry. The other two Canadian women's duos face off in round one of qualification. The match ups are as follows:
 |
Broder-Voth | vs. |  |
Kloek-Mooren |
|
Rodrigue-MacTavish | vs. |  |
Vodeb-Jakob |
|
Lessard-Martin | Main Draw | ||
|
Bansley-Maloney | Main Draw (WC) |
Live stream links after the jump.
With the women in Poland, the men's side of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is in Prague, Czech Republic this week. With the US team of Rogers-Dalhausser looking for the hat trick on the first three events of this season, expect competition to be tough. On the Canadian side of things, we have four teams competing. Those teams are:
Canadian Teams
 | Binstock-Van Huizen | 188 |
| Hatch-Schachter | 18 |
| Reader-Schalk | 160 |
| Redmann-Saxton | 245 |
Live streams after the jump.
This week the men and the women have separated with the women's side of the tournament competing in Myslowice Poland. We will keep our ears to the ground if any other live video streams come up and will post what we find below. The tournament runs from the 17th to the 22nd of May with four Canadian teams competing. Those teams (along with their FIVB entry points) are as follows:
Canadian Teams
 |
Bansley-Maloney | 450 |
|
Broder-Voth | 78 |
|
Lessard-Martin | 860 |
|
Rodrigue-MacTavish | 97 |
Live streams and more after the jump
Chaim Schalk battles at the net for the point. Photo: fivb.org
More action from Shanghai, China today as the 2011 Swatch FIVB World Tour in beach volleyball continues. After the qualification round yesterday for the men, one Canadian team has emerged from the pack and has made it into the main draw. Christian Redmann and Ben Saxton have a first round match up against a strong team from the USA. Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena are coming off of a 5th place finish in FIVB Brazil two weeks ago and are looking for another finish. The Canadians are the first team of either gender from Canada to make a main draw in 2011.
On the women's side of the tournament, the seeding is such that two of three Canadian women's teams will meet each other in the first round of qualification. This mini country showdown is kind of unfortunate but that's just how the seeds work. Rodrigue and MacTavish will face Valjas and Whitaker in the first round while the third and final Canadian team of Bansley-Maloney have a bye the first round.
Canadian Teams
Men's Main Draw
 |
Redmann-Saxton | vs. |  |
Fuerbringer-Lucena |
Women's Qualification Round
|
Rodrigue-MacTavish | vs. | |
Valjas-Whitaker |
|
Bansley-Maloney | vs. | BYE |
Free live video streams after the jump.