In a clash of the last two world champions, top-seeded Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser came out on the losing end of a three-set Round of 16 match against Germany’s Jonas Reckermann and Julius Brink at the FIVB World Championships in Rome Friday night.
The fourth-seeded Germans won 17-21, 21-19, 18-16, rallying from an 8-3 deficit in the third set.
VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH TODD ROGERS
Rogers-Dalhausser finished ninth, their worst finish at the World Championships. They were seventh in 2005, champions in 2007 — a year before winning the Olympics gold medal — and third in 2009. Reckermann-Brink won it in 2009.
Dalhausser was playing on a sprained ankle he suffered last weekend at the Beijing Grand Slam event, and Rogers said he was pleased at how they battled through the injury.
“It was a good go considering everything,” Rogers told NBC Universal Sports. “I was pretty sick at the beginning of the week and Phil’s ankle — he’s gotten better but he’s still not 100 percent… He went from maybe 60 percent at the beginning of this tournament to 80-85 percent.”
Rogers noted that on plays for Dalhausser, he set the ball lower than normal because his partner couldn’t jump as well on the sore ankle. He also said Dalhausser had trouble moving his feet get to the wicked float serves from the Germans.
Also being eliminated in the Round of 16 was the team of Nick Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer. They lost to Brazilians Pedro Salgado and Rhooney Ferramenta. 21-19, 15-21, 15-13.
Earlier on Friday, Rogers-Dalhausser stepped up their game and eliminated American rivals Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal in the Round of 32.
In their 56th meeting against Gibb-Rosie, the top-seeded Rogers-Dalhausser won for the 44th time, 21-14, 21-18, to earn a Round of 16 spot against defending world champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany.
Tenth-seeded Gibb and Rosenthal were the second U.S. men’s team to be ousted Friday as No. 24 Casey Jennings and Kevin Wong were upset in three sets by No. 44 Clemens Doppler and Matthias Mellitzer of Austria (17-21, 21-16, 18-16). Jennings-Wong beat Rogers-Dalhausser in pool play.
