Membership
B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Communications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 20, 2012) – The U.S. men’s beach volleyball teams of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers along with Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena remain alive in the consolation bracket of the Brasilia Open in Brazil, the opening event of the 2012 FIVB SWATCH World Tour.
The top-ranked U.S. men’s team of Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), who lost on Thursday, came back with three victories on Friday over Denmark’s 31st-ranked Bo Soderberg and Anders Lund Hoyer (21-18, 21-17 in 42 minutes); Austria’s 23rd-seeded Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl (21-13, 21-19 in 38 minutes) and, in the longest match of the day, Brazil’s sixth-ranked Marcio Araujo and Pedro Salgado (20-22, 21-14, 15-13 in 58 minutes).
On Saturday, in a repeat of the last two gold medal matches at the Brasilia Open, Dalhausser and Rogers will play Brazil’s second-ranked Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego.
The winner will go on to play Brazil’s 25th-seeded Evandro Goncalves and Harley Marques for a chance to play in the semifinals.
Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Lucena (Santa Barbara, Calif.), seeded fourth, lost their first match of the tournament in the third round on Friday to Spain’s fifth-seeded Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrián Gavira Collado, 21-19, 22-20 in 43 minutes.
In their first consolation match, Fuerbringer and Lucena defeated their 10th-seeded compatriots Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), 21-13, 19-21, 14-16 in 56 minutes.
Gibb and Rosenthal, who are battling Fuerbringer and Lucena for the second men’s slot on the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team, finished the tournament tied for ninth.
On Saturday, Fuerbringer and Lucena will face Brazil’s 16th-seeded Moisés Santos and Vitor Felipe, the team that upset Dalhausser and Rogers on Thursday.
The winner of that match will move on to play Germany’s seventh-seeded Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik for a chance to go to the semifinals.
The semifinals and finals of the Brasilia Open are being shown live and for free onhttp://fivb.laola1.tv.
Complete information about the FIVB World Tour is available on the FIVB web site.