Long Beach, USA, July 21, 2017 - As Sam Schachter stated, "We are getting better and better, and we believe in ourselves!"
The 27-year old Olympian uttered those words after he and Sam Pedlow placed second on July 16 at the Long Beach President's Cup in the United States where the Canadians dropped the finale to American rivals Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in two sets.
"Our dynamics feel really good and the world is our oyster," said Schachter, who is playing with Pedlow for the first time this season on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour after competing the past three-plus years with Josh Binstock. "We have complete confidence in ourselves and can compete with anyone."
The new partnership was formed when Binstock retired last September from the international circuit after competing 12 seasons on the FIVB World Tour with appearances in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games with Martin Reader and Schachter, respectively.
On the 2017 FIVB World Tour, Pedlow and Schachter have posted a pair of fifths and three ninths with a 14-9 match mark to rank 14th on the international points list. While Schachter has been playing on the FIVB circuit since 2011, the 30-year old Pedlow's first full season was 2014.
The 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships will be Pedlow's first appearance in the senior event after playing in the 2007 Under-21 World Championships. Schachter, who played ninth with Binstock at the 2015 FIVB World Championships in the Netherlands, played in three youth worlds and topped the podium at the 2010 Under-21 event with Garrett May in Alanya, Turkey.
At this year's World Championships in Vienna, Schachter and Pedlow are seeded 16th and will be competing in Pool I. The Canadians' first match on July 28 will be against 33rd-seeded Asian continental qualifiers Mohammad Ashfiya/Ade Rachmawan of Indonesia followed by a July 30 meeting against 40th-seeded Austrian wild card entrants Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz-Telsnigg and an August 1 confrontation with ninth-seeded Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera of Spain.