Injury Forces U.S. Men to Forfeit Finland Final

B.J. Hoeptner Evans August 21, 2011

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Photo: Courtesy of the FIVB

Todd Rogers, left, and Phil Dalhausser receive their prize from FIVB Technical Delegate Nikos Sofianos on Aug. 21 in Finland.

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 21, 2011) – The top-seeded U.S. beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers had to forfeit the gold medal match Sunday at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Paf Open in Aland, Finland after Rogers injured his knee.

Brazil’s fifth seeded Marcio Araujo and Benjamin Insfran won the gold medal .

According to the FIVB, Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) first injured his knee when the U.S. pair was leading 18-15. He called a timeout, but afterwards he was noticeably hobbling. Despite trying to play on, he was forced to stop with the scores tied at 21-21.

“Hopefully it is nothing serious,” Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) said. “Knowing Todd though, he will take care of it, work hard and try to get back as quickly as possible. We were supposed to play the next tournament, but it doesn’t look too good right now.”

 In 2010 Rogers and Dalhausser beat Marcio and Ricardo Santos in the Paf Open final and they also beat Marcio and Benjamin in the fourth round of this year’s tournament.

“After the game I went to them and said I would have liked to beat you in two sets,” Marcio said. “The feeling isn’t so good when you win like this, but the win is a win and the feeling is good when you win. You would rather win on the court, but this is an important win for us.”

Five U.S. women’s beach volleyball teams and five men’s teams, including Dalhausser and Rogers, are scheduled to compete in the HP Beach Open, the next stop on the FIVB Swatch World Tour, which begins Aug. 23 in the City of The Hague, Netherlands.

As things stand now, the U.S. teams will begin play on Aug. 23 with country quota matches.

On the women’s side, Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) will have to play Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) and Brittany Hochevar (Fowler, Colo.). The U.S. men’s team of Casey Patterson (Van Nuys, Calif.) and Bradley Keenan (Santa Ana, Calif.) will have to play Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Kevin Wong (Honolulu, Hawaii).

For more information about the tournament, click here.

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