Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser found their way back to a final on the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Tour, but the local stars fell short of the gold medal as they lost against Brazil’s Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti, 22-20, 21-19, in Gstaad, Switzerland on Sunday.
Rogers-Dalhausser were knocked out of the quarterfinals in the last three FIVB tournaments, starting with a Grand Slam event in Beijing, China, where Dalhausser suffered a sprained left ankle. The injury affected the team’s play at the World Championships in Rome and at a tournament in Stavenger, Norway.
Before that, they played in three straight finals, winning the first two (Brasilia, Brazil and Shanghai, China). The loss was against Emanuel-Alison in the Czech Republic, which ended a 40-match winning streak.
Rogers-Dalhausser won a FIVB-record nine tournaments last year.
Their performance in Gstaad is a good indication the team is at full strength again. Rogers-Dalhausser reached the final by rallying past Germany’s Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann, 18-21, 21-13, 15-13.
The final against the Brazilians was tight all the way. There were 19 ties in the first set and 13 in the second.
“It’s disappointing, especially because we were the defending champions in Gstaad,” Rogers told the FIVB. “We had several opportunities but a silver medal on the world tour is still significant. Phil and I both would do some things differently, but when a match is as close as this one was, little things can change the outcome and it did today. We’ll keep moving on and hope to learn more from our mistakes. For such a young player, Alison is really developing quickly.”
