It’s a two-person game, but when your beach volleyball partner blocks the spike of a world-class player and turns it into a kill of his own and then blasts the overset of a blistering jump serve he delivered, it’s best just to sit back and enjoy the dominance of one.
Todd Rogers had the best view on the beach of those incredible plays by Phil Dalhausser on Sunday during their 21-13, 21-14 destruction of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in the championship of the AVP Nivea Santa Barbra Open at West Beach.
“Sometimes you’re on and sometimes I get to sit back and laugh, applaud and say ‘yeah’, and make a play or two. I get to become a fan,” said Rogers of watching his partner’s dominating performance.
Todd Rogers can only watch as the ball falls for a Gibb-Rosenthal point.
[nggallery id=29]It was the third straight Santa Barbara title for the local team their 47th overall, 38th on the AVP Tour. Rogers now has 60 career titles and Dalhausser 49. They split $20,000.
It was also a repeat performance on the women’s side as fifth-seeded Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annette Davis won their second title on West Beach, beating No. 9 Dianne DeNecochea and Brittany Hochevar 24-22, 21-16. DeNecochea-Hochever upset top-seeded Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh in the semifinals while Jordan-Davis outlasted No. 3 Rachel Scott and Elaine Youngs.
There would be nothing close to an upset of the top-seeded men’s team.
Before routing Gibb-Rosenthal, Rogers-Dalhausser dismantled No. 2 seed John Hyden and Sean Scott, 21-14, 21-17, in the semifinals earlier Sunday. The No. 1 team in the world rankings have now won 21 straight games in the first two AVP events of 2010. (The final in the first event was rained out).
The 6-9 Dalhausser was absolutely awesome in the final. He put on a clinic of volleyball domination at 12-10 in the first game. First, he blocked Gibb, ruining a beautiful set by Rosenthal. On the next ball, his tree-like presence at the net forced Rosenthal to hit wide.
The score quickly grew to 18-10 when Dalhausser finished a quick bump set by Rogers, blocked a Gibb hit and spanked the ball down, buried a ball that was set up by his jump serve and roof-blocked Rosenthal.
The run ended when he drilled a jump serve into the net. But he made up for it on the next play with a sweet set to Rogers, who added to Gibb-Rosenthal’s frustration with a vintage cut shot.
“What can I say, Phil was being Phil out there,” Rosenthal said. “He took over the game and won them another championship.”
Asked if there was anything they could’ve done to change the game, Rosenthal said, “Don’t get blocked 50 times, try to make Todd beat you, shoot it around. They’re a great team. That’s whey they won the gold medal and why they’re the world champs. They win a lot because they complement each other well.”
Gibb didn’t want to talk about the match.
“Phil’s great,” he said. “If you guys want to talk about something else, I’ll talk.”
Rogers-Dalhausser pulled away in the second game with a four-point run after Rosenthal scored on a deep line shot to make it 9-8.
The run stared with a Rogers cut shot followed by a thrown set called against Gibb. Dalhausser blocked Gibb for the net point and Rogers dribbled a serve over the tape to make it 13-8.
Dalhausser highlighted another four-point run with two eye-popping plays. First, he ran up to the net after crushing jump serve and batted down an overpass. Then he went up and stuffed Rosenthal with one hand.
“In the second set I felt like I had to pick up Todd. I didn’t know how bad his finger was,” said Dalhausser.
Rogers injured his left pinky finger early in the the second game.
With the score at 6-6, Dalhausser scrambled for a Rogers dig and bump set the ball on top of the net. Rogers went up with his left hand attempting to block an attack by Rosenthal, but the ball was knocked off his hand. Rogers grimaced in pain as he walked toward the back line. After a few seconds he set up for the next serve, which he received and sided out with a line shot.
“I saw Todd run away like he hurt his finger,” Dalhausser said. “I figured he jammed his finger because it happens a lot at the net.”
During the side change, Rogers had his pinky and ring finger taped together and he finished the match without any problems.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” said Rogers, whose left hand below the pinky finger was swollen from the impact. “I used to buddy tape these all the time in college.”
When the score reached 20-13 fans started yelling for Rogers to pull out the skyball serve. He complied but hit it out of bounds.
Dalhausser finished the deal with his 12th kill of the match. He hit .500 for the match with 10 blocks and held Rosenthal to a minus-.313 hitting percentage and Gibb to a paltry .194 average.
Rogers said he felt he played a better match when they beat Gibb-Rosenthal last week in Brazil. But in Santa Barbara, it was all Dalhausser.
“He played fantastic this match. I think I played OK.”
