Dalhausser, Rogers Through to Third Round

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 5, 2010) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) advanced to the third round on Wednesday at the Shanghai Open, part of the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

In the first round, Dalhausser and Rogers, the top-seeded team in Shanghai’s men’s bracket, defeated China’s 32nd-seeded Cheng Chen and Yong Liu, 21-12, 21-11 in 36 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers went on to defeat Latvia’s 16th-ranked Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins in the second round, 21-15, 21-14 in 40 minutes.

In fact, all of the tournament’s top eight seeds in the men’s bracket advanced to Thursday’s third round. Dalhausser and Rogers will play eighth- seeded Jefferson Bellaguarda and Martin Laciga of Switzerland.

The other three U.S. men’s beach teams – Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah)/Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.)/Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.)/Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) – are all alive in the consolation bracket.

Gibb and Rosenthal, the tournament’s 15th-seeded team, opened Wednesday by defeating France’s 18th-seeded Andy Ces and Kevin Ces, 21-19, 21-19 in 40 minutes in the first round. But in the second round they fell to Spain’s second-seeded Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera, 21-16, 21-5 in 47 minutes.

On Thursday, they will play Poland’s 17th-ranked Grzegorz Fijalekin and Mariusz Prudel in the consolation bracket.

Jennings and Keenan fell to Brazil’s 14th-seeded Pedro Cunha and Thiago Santos Barbosa in the first round, 21-15, 21-14 in 40 minutes. They came back in the consolation bracket and beat Poland’s 30th-ranked Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz, 21-15, 26-24 in 47 minutes.

On Thursday, Jennings and Keenan will face Norway’s 13th-ranked Tarjei Skarlund and Martin Spinnangr in the consolation bracket.

Twenty-third ranked Fuerbringer and Lucena lost to China’s 10th-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu in the first round, 21-15, 16-21, 15-11 in 58 minutes. The U.S. team came back to defeat Spain’s 26th-ranked Inocencio Lario and Raul Mesa, 21-19, 18-21, 15-9 in 49 minutes.

They will play China’s ninth-seeded Peng Gao and Jian Li in the consolation bracket on Thursday.

Women’s main draw play also begins Thursday.
The U.S. team of Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) did not advance from qualifying on Wednesday. Hanson and Rutledge won their first-round qualifying match over Germany’s Jana Kohler and Julia Sude, 22-20, 21-12. But they lost their second-round match to Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha and Liesbet Van Breedam, 22-20, 21-15 in 42 minutes.

In Thursday’s main draw action, Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the tournament’s third seeds, will face Netherland’s 30th-seeded Madelein Meppelink and Marloes Wesselink.

Fourth-ranked Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Myers Beach, Fla.) will go up against Norway’s 29th-seeded Janne Kongshavn and Ingrid Torlen.

Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.), seeded sixth, will play Great Britain’s 27th-ranked Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin.

For more information about the FIVB World Tour event in Brazil, visit the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour web site.

Tags: Angie Akers, April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Jake Gibb, Jennifer Kessy, Matt Fuerbringer, Misty May-Treanor, Nick Lucena, Nicole Branagh, Phil Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, U.S. Beach Team