U.S. Men's Teams Take First Matches of Day Two

Candice Kasischke
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: candice.kasischke@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 18, 2010) - The three U.S. men’s volleyball teams competing in day two of the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Patria Direct Open in the Czech Republic collectively won their first matches of the day on Friday. After the victories the teams went on to bring mixed results to the tournament boards.

Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) went undefeated today after falling into the consolation bracket with a loss to U.S. rivals Jake Gibb (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Sean Rosenthal (Corona Del Mar, Calif.). In the opener on Thursday Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) and Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.), after winning their first match, went on to end their play in the double-elimination tournament.

Dalhausser and Rogers, facing Jorge and Gomes Renato of Georgia in their first match of the day, conquered its first consolation match against the No. 18 team 21-17, 21-16 in 45 minutes. The come-back team of Dalhausser and Rogers then beat Russia’s Andre Belov and Ruslan Dayanov, the fourth-seeded team of the tournament, 18-21, 13-21 in 36 minutes.

Courtesy of: FIVB Phil Dalhausser blocking at the2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour Patria Direct Open Dalhausser and Rogers wrapped up an undefeated day in their third match on Friday. They claimed a symmetrical 21-18, 21-18 victory in 44 minutes over 27th-seeded Igor Kolodinsky and Yaroslav Koshkarev of Russia. Dalhausser and Rogers will face Spain’s 4th-seeded Pablo Allepuz Herrera and Adrían Collado Gavira on Saturday morning.

The U.S. team of Gibb and Rosenthal kicked off round four of the tournament Friday with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over eighth-seeded Grzegorz Fijakek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland that was 44 minutes long. Gibb and Rosenthal then turned around and fell to fifth-seeded Penngen Wu and Linyin Xu of China 17-21, 16-21, in 42 minutes in round four of the tournament.

If Dalhausser and Rogers continue their winning streak, they will face a rematch against 17th-seeded Gibb and Rosenthal for the right to advance to Saturday afternoon’s semifinal.

Keenan and Jennings defeated 20th-seeded Matteo Ingrosso and Nicolai Paolo of Italy 21-17, 21-19, in 44 minutes during the second round of consolations on Friday. However, they were eliminated in their second match of the day by No. 11 Insfran Benjamin and Oscar Schmidt Bruno of Brazil 17-21, 15-21, in 44 minutes to finish in a tie for 13th.

The tournament concludes on Sunday with the medal-round matches.

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

Tags: FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jake Gibb, Philip Dalhausser, Sean Rosenthal, Todd Rogers, U.S. Beach Team, U.S. Men's Beach Team