Just for good measure, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won the season-ending AVP Manhattan Beach Open on Sunday.
It was the cherry on top of a dream-like year in which the duo won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing, three FIVB Grand Slams and 11 of 14 events on the AVP Tour.
In the final, Rogers and Dalhausser each faced a former partner. Sean Scott used to play with Rogers, and Nick Lucena is a former partner of “The Thin Beast.”
The world’s best team dominated 21-16, 21-16.
Manhattan Beach is considered the most prestigious of domestic titles, and Rogers-Dalhausser won their third on Sunday. The only other combos which have done that are Mike O’Hara-Mike Bright, Mike Dodd-Tim Hovland and Karch Kiraly-Kent Steffes.
Goleta’s Dax Holdren, another ex-teammate of Rogers, finished tied for seventh with partner Will Strickland in his final tournament. He went out in a three-game battle against Rogers-Dalhausser.
Dalhausser has some big plans for the offseason.
“I am going to do a whole lot of nothing,” he said. “Baseball playoffs are coming up and I’ll get to sit down and watch them along with NASCAR.”
