Dalhausser and Lucena win quarterfinal, will play for World Tour Finals podium finish on Sunday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are en route to playing for a podium finish at the FIVB World Tour Finals. The Olympians beat Canada in the quarterfinals on Saturday to earn their spot in Sunday’s semifinals round.

Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are the last American team standing at the 2017 FIVB World Tour Finals, following a terrific start that aided their advancing to the semifinals. USA Volleyball saw its three other teams eliminated on Friday in the Round of 12.

Dalhausser and Lucena topped Canada’s Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, 21-23, 25-23, 15-12, on Saturday in the quarterfinal matchup.

“We’ve just been around for so long and we knew anything could happen,” said Dalhausser. “And something just happened there and we ended up winning. These guys are good, they’ve been in finals before. Anybody can win on a given day.”

With the victory, Dalhausser/Lucena are 4-1 against Saxton/Schalk.

“They’ve been playing well, hats off to them,” added Lucena. “We got lucky but I’ll take it. Anytime you’re down 19-15, 99-percent of the time you are going to lose the game. But we are capable of scoring points and that’s what we did. We carried it over to the third.”

The Americans entered the match rested after having Friday off due to winning their pool 2-0 on Thursday. They now face Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak of Poland in the semifinal on Sunday morning. Soon after they will play either Brazil or Italy for a gold or bronze medal.

Against Poland, the U.S. leads the series with a 3-2 edge. The last time the two teams met was in July in Olsztyn, Poland, and roughly two weeks prior to that, in Switzerland – the U.S. won both meetings. Seeded No. 1 at the World Tour Finals, Dalhausser/Lucena also have experience in the same Hamburg venue, winning in 2016 at the Hamburg Major.

USA qualified the maximum four teams, two per gender, that a country could have in the tournament. April Ross/Lauren Fendrick, Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross, and Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner all tied for ninth after being eliminated on Friday in the Round of 12.

Yes, @NicklucenaFSU was overwhelmed with emotion after the big comeback! #HamburgFinals @usavolleyball @PhilDalhausser pic.twitter.com/Sizbghq3qj

— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) August 26, 2017

What a thriller! @PhilDalhausser and @NicklucenaFSU secure a spot in the #HamburgFinals semis! @usavolleyball @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/NW93QBMbzt

— Beach Volleyball (@FIVBBeach) August 26, 2017