Dalhausser, Rogers Top Poland Favorites for Gold

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 31, 2011) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers captured its fourth gold medal of the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, winning the $600,000 Mazury Orlen Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, Poland.

In the gold medal finale, Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded second, overcame the challenge of the home-country favorites Grzegorz Fijale and Mariusz Prudel, ranked fourth, to earn a 21-15, 15-21, 15-13 victory in 53 minutes.

“We had a very slow start in this tournament, but we turned it around and finished really strong, beating the new world champions and a red-hot Polish team on their home court,” Dalhausser told the FIVB.  “We were comfortable with how things were going, but they made some great plays in the second set and we couldn’t close them out. Todd and I play a lot of three set matches so we don’t panic easily and we actually enjoy when a large, vocal crowd like this is rooting for their home team.  We feel the energy, but we don’t let it get to us. It actually helps us to focus even more.”

With their victory, Dalhausser and Rogers increased their 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour record to 51-12 while Fijalek and Prudel are 36-15.

Dalhausser and Rogers successfully defended their 2010 Stare Jablonki gold medal. After starting 0-2 in pool play, the U.S. pair won six straight to earn their 21st FIVB career gold medal as a team while making the semifinals for the 36th time in the 47 events they have played together. They also won their 34th FIVB medal as a team. 

In the gold medal match, Dalhausser and Rogers came out strong, erupting for a 7-1 lead, which didn’t silence the roaring Polish crowd supporting Fijalek and Prudel. The match was never tied, as Dalhausser scored three times on blocks along with two aces and Rogers scored several times on kills and chop shots.

Things changed in the second set as Fijalek and Prudel fed off the energy of the sold-out crowd, breaking open a 5-5 tie to lead by 18-12 and then closing it with a Prudel kill over Dalhausser.

The tiebreaker set was tied three times, the last at 6-6 as Dalhausser’s defense netted three more blocks, several kills and Rogers kept Fijalek and Prudel running with successful chop shots. USA built a lead of 11-7 and Poland did close to 12-13, but USA scored two of the final three points on a Rogers cross court kill and Dalhausser ending it with a cross court kill of his own.

“We really turned this one around and it took both of us to do it,” Rogers said in an FIVB release. “Those first two losses were really bad on our part but the last six wins we played as good as we have since Phil’s ankle injury. The Polish team played very good like Phil said and I think it’s great to see another country besides the ‘regulars’ have some impact on the final four of a FIVB Swatch World Tour event.”

In Sunday’s semifinals, Dalhausser and Rogers pulled away to defeat Brazil’s top-seeded Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego, 21-15, 18-21 and 15-12 in 48 minutes.

 Brazil jumped to a 4-1 lead and there were three early ties as Dalhausser and Rogers clawed back into the match with strong serving and work at the net by Dalhausser. The U.S. team led 12-9 at the technical time out and then pulled away until Dalhausser ended it with his second ace down the middle of the court.

In the second set, Dalhausser and Rogers started off 3-0, but there with 12 ties in the set, the last one at 18-18 when Brazil scored the last three points off a Dalhausser serve into the net, a Rogers cross-court kill that went wide and Alison’s kill over the top of Rogers.

In the tie-breaker third set, the U.S. team jumped to a 4-0 lead on two consecutive blocks by Dalhausser; an Emanuel chop that went wide trying to overcompensate for Dalhausser’s presence; and an Alison hitting error after a great serve by Rogers.  As Dalhausser dominated the net with seven blocks, the United States kept a lead of at least two points the rest of the way, ending the match with an Emanuel serve that went long and an Alison kill that was wide.

In the rivalry between the two teams, Dalhausser and Rogers now have an 8-3 series edge over Alison and Emanuel.

The 2011 FIVB Swatch World Tour has its last of six 2011 Grand Slam double-gender events Aug. 1-7 in Klagenfurt, Austria at the A1 Grand Slam presented by Volksbank Klagenfurt 2011.

The U.S. is scheduled to get started on Monday (Aug. 1) with a country quota match between Angie Akers (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and their compatriots Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.).

For more information on the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour, please visit http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2011/index.asp.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, FIVB World Tour, mobile, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers