Eight is Great for Dalhausser, Rogers at Otera Open

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

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Aug. 15, 2010) – The U.S. men’s beach team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) captured its eighth SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal of the 2010 season on Sunday at the US$380,000 Otera Open in Kristiansand, Norway.

With their 21-18, 21-12 title win in 47 minutes over fifth-seeded Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado of Brazil in the men’s finale, the top-seeded Dalhausser and Rogers broke a deadlock with three Brazilian teams that had previously won seven gold medals in a season.

Sunday’s title in the fourth annual event also awarded Dalhausser and Rogers the $30,000 first-place prize while Harley and Salgado split $21,000.

Dalhausser and Rogers now share the overall international record for team titles in a season with the Brazilian women’s pair of Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, who captured eight gold medals in 2009 to establish the record. With two men’s events left this season in Finland and The Netherlands, Dalhausser and Rogers have an opportunity to increase their record total.

Sunday’s title was the 16th gold medal for the Dalhausser/Rogers partnership as the Americans rank second to the 33 men’s SWATCH FIVB World Tour titles won by Brazilians Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos (2002-2009). Juliana and Larissa hold the overall SWATCH record with 36 team titles after winning their seventh gold medal in 2010 Saturday by defeating China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang 21-19, 22-20 in the 43-minute finale.

Dalhausser and Rogers, who clinched the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour championship last week by winning the Polish Grand Slam in Stare Jablonki, advanced to the ninth international finale this season in 11 events by outlasting third-seeded Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos of Brazil, 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 17-15) in 69 minutes.

The American semifinal victory prevented an all-Brazilian finale as two teams from the South American country competed in Sunday’s first semifinal with Harley and Salgado posting a 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 win in 61 minutes over Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego.

Dalhausser and Rogers are now 15-3 this season against Brazilian pairs after starting the season with a 2-3 mark against the South Americans. In the series with Harley and Salgado, Dalhausser and Rogers hold a 5-3 edge with two wins this week after defeating the Brazilians 21-11, 21-16 Saturday afternoon to advance to their 11th-straight semi-final this season.

With Brazil guaranteed two Otera Open medals after advancing three teams to a SWATCH FIVB World Tour “final four” for the 50th-time in the 24-year history of the international circuit, Alison and Emanuel captured the third spot on the podium by defeating Marcio Araujo and Ricardo 2-1 (15-21, 21-14, 15-12) in 52 minutes. Alison and Emanuel split $15,000 for third-place with Marcio Araujo and Ricardo sharing $11,200.

With five match wins this week, Emanuel has now compiled 1,000 FIVB victories since starting his international career in 1994. The player with the most international tournament appearances (204), gold medals (70), podium placements (136), semifinal finishes (149) and earnings ($2,081,535), Emanuel has competed in 1,242 FIVB matches with an 80.5 winning percentage

The SWATCH FIVB World Tour continues Monday on the Finnish island of Aland followed by the final European event in The Netherlands (The Hague on Aug. 23-29). The Hague is the final event of 14 stops for men in 2010. The women’s 15-stop schedule concludes in China (Sanya, October 26-31) and Thailand (Phuket, November 2-7).

For more information on this and other SWATCH FIVB World Tour events, click here.

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