Dalhausser, Rogers Reach Gstaad Semifinal

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 9, 2011) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers has advanced to the semifinals of the $600,000 1 to 1 Energy Grand Slam in Gstaad, Switzerland, part of the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour.

The semifinals and medal matches will be played on Sunday.

The fourth-seeded Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) advanced to the semifinals with two victories on Saturday. The U.S. team opened with a second-round victory over Brazil’s eighth-seeded Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Benjamin Insfran, 26-24, 21-15 in 46 minutes.

In the third round, Dalhausser and Rogers defeated China’s 11th-ranked Linyin Xu and Penggen Wu, 21-18, 21-13 in 33 minutes.

In Sunday’s semifinal, the U.S. team will face Germany’s second-ranked Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann. The winner will face the winner of the semifinal between Brazil’s top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti and Poland’s fifth-ranked Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel.

This is the first semifinal that Dalhausser and Rogers have reached since May 21 when they won and went on to finish second in Prague, Czech Republic

The U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded 25th, was eliminated Saturday when it lost its second-round match to Russia’s 14th-seeded Konstantin Semenov and Yaroslav Koshkarev, 19-21, 21-18, 15-12 in 51 minutes.

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour, visit the FIVB web site.

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