Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are two wins away from completing the winningest season in the history of the FIVB World Tour.
The local pro beach volleyball stars, playing in their final event of the season, are vying to become the first team to win nine tournaments on the international circuit. They reached their 12th semifinal at the PAF Open in Aland, Finland on Saturday by routing China’s Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen 21-9, 21-15.
Top-seeded Rogers-Dalhausser will take on Spain’s Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera in one semifinal Sunday. The other semifinal pits Brazil’s Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos.
Rogers-Dalhausser’s win over Xu-Wu was their first meeting against the Chinese team since a losing the gold-medal match at the Moscow Grand Slam in June. Wu and Xu have since won a second gold medal (in France) and are the only other men’s team to win more than one FIVB tournament this year.
Rogers-Dalhausser have won four straight FIVB events and six in a row overall, counting AVP tournaments. Their eight international titles in a single season is a men’s record.
