Dalhausser, Rogers Keep Streak Alive in Long Beach

Erin Campbell
Intern, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6864
E-Mail: erin.campbell@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 26, 2010) – The U.S. beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won their fifth straight domestic event at the AVP Nivea Tour Long Beach Open on July 24-25 in Southern California. For the women, Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh won their second AVP event this season.

Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the top seeds, finished with a 6-0 match record and took home the $22,000 prize. The pair defeated fourth-seeded Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), 23-21, 21-17 in 51 minutes to move on to the championship match. In the final, they defeated John Hyden (Pensacola, Fla.) and Sean Scott (Kailua, Hawaii), 17-21, 21-17, 15-6 in an hour and 26 minutes.

So far this year, Dalhausser and Rogers have won five out of six AVP events. The only event where they did not finish first was the Fort Lauderdale Open, where the final was cancelled due to weather. The pair is currently on a 34-0 match winning streak on the AVP Tour and has only dropped a total of six sets in those 34 matches. They have earned a total of $59,790 this season.

Gibb and Rosenthal finished the day 4-2, good enough to tie for fifth place, and won $6,500. Casey Jennings (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) also participated in the event, finishing 3-2 and tied for fifth place. Jennings and Keenan won $6,500.

Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) tied for 13th after going 0-2. They won $1,750.

May-Treanor (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) added to their Fort Lauderdale Open win after going 6-0 in Long Beach. The pair won $22,000 after defeating Annett Davis (Long Beach, Calif.) and Jenny Johnson Jordan (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), 21-16, 21-19 in 54 minutes in the final.

May-Treanor and Branagh have played in seven AVP events and have finished second twice and third twice, along with their two first-place finishes. They are currently 33-6 in matches on the tour.

Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Tyra Turner (Fort Meyers Beach, Fla.) finished tied for third place after being topped by May-Treanor and Branagh, 19-21, 21-16, 15-11 in 55 minutes in the semifinals. Akers and Turner went 3-2 in the event and won $10,000.

Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodlands, Calif.) went 3-2, good enough to tie for fifth place, and won $6,500 while Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) tied for seventh with a 2-2 record and won $3,000.

For more information on the AVP Nivea Tour Long Beach Open, click here.

Four women’s teams, Akers and Turner, Ivy and Rutledge, May-Treanor and Branagh and Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are registered compete in the FIVB World Tour Grand Slam 10 this week in Klagenfurt, Austria. All four teams have an automatic bid to the main draw and will begin play on Wednesday. The championship match will be played on Saturday.

Five men’s teams, Fuerbringer and Lucena, Gibb and Rosenthal, Jennings and Keenan, Dalhausser and Rogers, and Scott and Hyden, will also compete at the event. This will be Scott’s first FIVB event since 2008 and Hyden’s first FIVB event since 2002. Jennings and Keenan will be the first pair to compete as they will play in the qualification round Thursday. Champions will be crowned on Sunday.

WALSH ANNOUNCEMENT

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) announced on ESPN’s telecast of the women’s final of the Long Beach Open that she will play with Brooke Hanson for the rest of this season and will try to return to the beach at the AVP event on Aug. 14-15 in San Francisco.

Walsh has taken the summer off thus far after giving birth to her second child on May 19. Walsh’s partner at the 2004 and ’08 Olympic Games, Misty May-Treanor, has been playing with fellow Olympian Nicole Branagh and has said that she is committed to Branagh for the rest of the season.

Hanson was named the AVP’s best defender for 2009. She has competed in five FIVB events in 2010 with Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) with a fifth place in Brazil their best finish.

Hanson and Rutledge had one second-place finish and five thirds on the AVP Tour in 2009.

Tags: Ashley Ivy, AVP, Beach, beach officials, FIVB World Tour