TORONTO — Sam Schachter culminated a summer of storybook finishes with yet another last minute nail-biter, pairing with Rex Fenton to win a gold medal in the 18-and-under category at the 2008 Beach National Championships.
In the third game of a three-game set against the Number 1 seeds, Manitobans Chris Voth and Dane Pischke, Schachter and Fenton erased a 7-2 deficit and won 15-13 to claim the title.
Their road to the final was equally fraught with difficulty. In the semi, it took a last set 15-13 win to advance to the championship match.
The tournament, held at Toronto’s Ashbridge’s Bay Park, capped a pretty good summer, Sam’s dad, Jon, said. A few weeks before at the Ontario Summer Games in Ottawa, Sam won another gold in the “King of the Court” event. Sam teamed with a variety of players and accumulated more points than any other beach volleyballer to win that event, Jon said.
Earlier, at Volleyball Canada’s tryouts for the national team in June, Schachter and Fenton were again pushed to the limit by their nemeses, Voth and Pischke. After losing the first set 12-21, they were almost eliminated in Game 2 of the best-of-three championship, trailing the westerners 20-19. Despite facing three match points, they staved off elimination and went on to win 26-24, forcing a Game 3. They won that one 15-10.
Sam won pretty well every beach tournament he entered in his age division this season, Jon said. He and Fenton even won one in an under-21 event.
With the beach volleyball season now over, Sam has moved on to Wilfred Laurier University on a volleyball scholarship. He will play for the school’s court team, Jon said.
Next season will present some difficult choices for Sam. He’s locked up a spot on the Maccabi Canada court volleyball team, which will compete in Israel next summer, but he’ll have to weigh that opportunity versus continuing to compete in beach events, his dad said.
