Beach Update: USAV earns teams into Swatch Beach FIVB World Tour Finals

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Volleyball earned one men’s and one women’s team into the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals, which will be hosted from August 23-27 in Hamburg, Germany.

Olympians Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena earned one of eight automatic berths in the men’s World Tour Finals competition, while Olympian Brooke Sweat and partner Summer Ross earned a spot in the women’s.

Entry into the Swatch FIVB World Tour Finals is based on a team’s eight best finishes over a 365 day period. Dalhausser/Lucena have been partners since 2015, while Sweat/Ross joined in February of 2017. The last four berths, per gender, for the 12-team competition will be Wild Card selections made by the host, and is expected to be announced this week as well.

Dalhausser and Lucena enter the tournament as the top finishers in World Ranking, as of August 7, with 4,560 points (380 points ahead of the No. 2 team). In 2017, Dalhausser/Lucena have three podium finishes, two gold from Moscow and Gstaad, and a bronze from Fort Lauderdale. Also announced in the men’s automatic berth were seven other teams:

Alvaro Filho/Saymon Santos, BRA
Alexander Horst/Clemens Doppler, AUT
Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola, BRA
Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira, ESP
Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin, RUS
Bartosz Losiak/Piotr Kantor, POL
Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo, ITA
Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, USA

Sweat and Day boast five Top 5 finishes this season, including silver from Moscow. In FIVB World Rankings, they come in at ninth. Each country is limited to two teams in the World Tour Finals, nullifying Brazil’s third team that ranked in the Top 8. The women’s field consists of:

Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda Lisboa, BRA
Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre, SUI
Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova, CZE
Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova, CZE
Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes, BRA
Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes, CAN
Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur, GER
Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross, USA

The format of the tournament will be 12 teams per gender, with pool play broken into pools of three starting on Aug. 23. All teams advance into the single-elimination bracket. Quarterfinals and semifinals for the women will be Aug. 25, with the finals on Saturday Aug. 26. The men will play quarterfinals on the 26th, semifinals and finals on the 27th.

In 2016, the U.S. saw John Hyden/Tri Bourne earn bronze at the World Tour Finals, Dalhausser/Lucena and Kerri Walsh Jennings/A. Ross tied for fifth, respectively. In 2015, the inaugural year of the World Tour Finals, USA entered two men’s and women’s teams. Dalhausser/Lucena earned silver, Lauren Fendrick/A. Ross tied for fifth, Jennifer Kessy/Emily Day finished seventh, and Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson in seventh.