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Back-to-back World Tour podiums for Saanich beach volleyballer

Saanich's Jamie Broder and teammate Kristina Valjas won bronze medal at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour's Lucerne Open in Switzerland.
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Kristen Valjas and Jamie Broder (right

Saanich's Jamie Broder and teammate Kristina Valjas of Toronto won a bronze medal on Saturday (May 17) at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour's second stop of the season, the Lucerne Open in Switzerland.

It's the second consecutive medal on the FIVB World Tour for Broder (29) and Valjas (27), after they won gold at the season opener in Fuzhou, China last month.

"We are so excited to come away with bronze here in Lucerne! Coming off of our win in China we knew that teams would have us on their radar, and our play needed to be strong," said Broder, a former Claremont secondary grad and UBC Thunderbird. "I'm so proud of our execution at crucial times during the tournament, and our composure under pressure."

Broder and Valjas swept Austria's Stefanie Schwaiger and Barbara Hansel 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in the bronze medal game. The team entered the Lucerne semifinal underfeated in 12 consecutive victories of of the 2015 FIVB World Tour.

"This second medal within 14 days proves that the win at Fuzhou wasn't just a lucky strike," Valjas said.

Another Claremont secondary grad, Fred Winters, captained Canada's indoor men's team as it swept six straight sets from Cuba in front of a noisy crowds of 6,400 and 3,5000 fans, respectively, at the Corral of Calgary's Stampede Park on Saturday and Sunday. It was Canada's kickoff to the 2015 FIVB World League.

The team also features Oak Bay's Josh Howatson.

Canada won with wins of 26-24, 25-19 and 25-21 on Sunday, and 25-20, 25-19 and 26-24 on Saturday.

Canada's next matches are against Cuba in Detroit, May 21 to 23 in Detroit in the hopes of qualifying for the World Cup. Canada will continue with home World League stops in Halifax, NS, and Summerside, PEI.

reporter@saanichnews.com