Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser have rebounded from a slow start to reach the semifinals at the FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in Stare Jablonki, Poland.
The local pro beach volleyball team will play top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti of Brazil early Sunday morning. The Brazilians have won the last two meetings in Prague, Czech Republic and Gstaad, Switzerland.
In the other semifinal, home-town favorites Gzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland face Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann and Kay Matysik.
Rogers-Dalhausser outlasted Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann in a tight three-set quarterfinal, 21-18, 24-26, 15-12. It was the Americans’ second win in a row over Brink and Reckermann after three consecutive defeats.
“It was one tough match, but they almost always are when the two of us get together,” Dalhausser told FIVB.org. “We were playing so close it was a matter of who made the mistakes, and in the tiebreaker they made them and we seized the day, so to speak.”
Rogers-Dalhausser started the tournament by losing their first two matches in pool play.
