Dalhausser, Rogers Win All-U.S. Final

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 1, 2010) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers defeated compatriots Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena to win their sixth FIVB World Tour gold medal of 2010 on Sunday at the Tour A1 Grand Slam 10 in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the tournament's top seeds, defeated 12th-seeded Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 21-18, 21-19 in 53 minutes in the gold medal match. It was the best international finish for Fuerbringer and Lucena since they became a team at the beginning of the year.

With four events remaining on the international beach volleyball schedule, Dalhausser and Rogers are a tournament away from clinching the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship as they successfully defended their title at the US$600,000 A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam title. Dalhausser and Rogers shared the $43,500 first-place prize in winning the A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam for the third time.

Fuerbringer and Lucena, who were playing in their first SWATCH FIVB World Tour final together, split $29,500 for second place. The silver medal was Lucena’s first international podium placement while Fuerbringer had competed in two previous SWATCH FIVB World Tour medal matches with Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) at stops in Croatia (2008 Zagreb bronze) and Poland (2009 Myslowice silver).

Dalhausser and Rogers have compiled 5,980 points for nine SWATCH FIVB World Tour events this season and will add a minimum of 80 more points when the Americans start play Thursday in the Polish Grand Slam Thursday in Stare Jablonki.

A team’s best 10 finishes are counted towards the men’s 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship as Dalhausser and Rogers have not finished lower than fourth this season with their gold medal finish Sunday on the Metnitzstrand centre court at Lake Wörthersee being their sixth title this season and 14th in their international career together since 2005.

The only team that has an opportunity to catch Dalhausser and Rogers are Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego as the Brazilians dropped a semifinal match to them before recovering to capture the A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam bronze medal by defeating seventh-seeded compatriots Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos 21-18, 24-22 in 47 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers ended Alison and Emanuel’s gold medal effort for the A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam by defeating the Brazilians 21-16, 21-19 in a 44-minute semifinal match.  It was the Americans’ fifth win in five meetings with Alison and Emanuel this season. 

Sunday’s final was initially set up when Fuerbringer and Lucena rallied from a 13-10 deficit in the third and deciding set against Marcio Araujo and Ricardo to score a 21-19, 18-21, 15-13 victory in 68 minutes. 

Sunday’s finale was the 10th-time in the 24-year history of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour that two American men’s team have competed in a gold medal match. The last all-American meeting was 149 FIVB events ago on June 4, 2000 in Mexico with Dax Holdren and Rogers defeating Olympians Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong 15-12 (sideout scoring) in the Rosarito finale.

The SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues Monday in Poland (Stare Jablonki, Aug. 2-8) for the season’s final Grand Slam event.  Open events will conclude the European portion of the international season with stops in Norway (Kristiansand, Aug. 9-15), Finland (Aland, Aug. 16-22) and The Netherlands (The Hague, Aug. 23-29).

For more information on the FIVB World Tour A1 Grand Slam 10, click here.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers