At this weekend’s FIVB beach volleyball event in Shanghai, China, four American pairs found glory at the top. Representing the only country with two or more teams in the final four, the men schooled the competition with a gold-silver finish, while the ladies sealed second and fourth place spots.
On Saturday, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser outmanned a rejuvenated pairing of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, 21-18, 24-22 in the championship final. Both partnerships, each of whom competed in the Beijing Olympics, tore up the ranks by winning all matches in the first five rounds of the tournament.
In the finals, the top-seeded pair fought off challenges by the eleventh-seeded tandem who landied on the podium for the first time in a year.
“It was a pretty good match and we were playing our compatriots. We have played each other a lot of times and we know each other very well, I hope the crowd enjoyed it,” said Rogers in a FIVB press release. The Beijing Olympics gold medalists are putting the world ranks on notice by winning each of this season’s two FIVB tournaments.
Germany's third-ranked team of Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann battled Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira Collado to win the bronze, 14-21, 22-20, 15-10.
Just missing a chance at the podium were Americans Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena who finished in a fifth place tie. And surprisingly, the best Brazilian team had to settle for a ninth.
Women’s Play – Close Contests: In the absence of the gold medal goddesses, Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, two American women’s couples advanced into the medal round on Sunday. Jen Kessy and April Ross, the sixth-seeds, defeated Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson, 21-17, 21-15. Then, the latter 16th seeded pair almost notched a bronze medal, in a narrow loss to the Austrian sister team of Stefanie Schwaiger and Doris Schwaiger, 19-21, 23-21, 12-15. For this rising US pair, their fourth place matched their best ever FIVB finish.
Kessy and Ross, an early favorite to make Team USA for the London Olympics, then faced the seventh-ranked Holland pair, Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer for the gold medal. In an hour-long match, the Americans nearly won the title before falling to the energetic Dutch duo, 21-15, 24-26, 13-15.
Nicole Branagh and Angie Akers, the next best US team, finished in a respectable 13th spot. The FIVB tour next resumes in two weeks with the men competing in Prague, Czech Republic, while the women contend in Myslowice, Poland. May-Treanor, who is recovering from a MCL knee injury sustained at last week’s semifinal match in Sanya, China, may indeed miss this event too.