The national media is paying attention to the success of local beach volleyball stars Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser in a non-Olympic year.
The national newspaper USA Today on Monday named Rogers and Dalhausser as its athletes of the week after their amazing comeback performance at the Swatch-FIVB Patria Direct Open in Prague, Czech Republic.
After losing in the second round, the 2008 Olympic champions survived five elimination matches before beating Brazil’s Alison Ceruti and Emmanuel Rego in the championship match, 21-15, 14-21, 15-11. It was their fourth title in six international events this year — they finished second and fourth in the other two tournaments — and seventh overall.
Rogers-Dalhausser. who won a total of nine matches in Prague, return to the AVP Tour this weekend in Belmar Beach, N.J. They’ve finished first in all three events they’ve entered on the domestic circuit. They missed last weekend’s tournament in Virginia Beach, Va. to play in Prague.
The Virginia Beach Open was won by former Santa Barbara resident Nick Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer.
Following Belmar Beach, Rogers-Dalhausser return to Europe for three weeks to play in FIVB Grand Slam tournaments in Norway and Switzerland. They won the first Grand Slam of the season in Italy and finished runner-up in the second in Moscow.
