It’s two for two in 2012 for Santa Barbara’s gold-medal pro beach volleyball team.
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser are flying high at the start of the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. The local team won its second straight tournament title on Sunday, taking the Shanghai Grand Slam in China.
In an all-American final, the defending Olympic champions defeated Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb 21-19, 22-24, 15-11. Two weeks ago at the season-opening Brasilia Open in Brazil, they defeated compatriots Nick Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer in the final.
Rogers-Dalhausser improved their head-to-head lead against Gibb/Rosenthal to 43-12
Rogers-Dalhausser split the top prize of $43,300.
Sunday’s title in China was a record-setter for Rogers-Dalhausser. They’ve now won seven straight tour events going back to last season before Rogers suffered a knee injury. The previous tour record for consecutive tournament titles for a men’s team was six set by Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego in 1999.
They went undefeated in Shanghai, giving them 12 straight match wins to start the season. The streak moved the Americans to the top spot on the men’s list for match winning percentage. They currently have a 216-43 win-loss record for an .834 winning percentage.
Rogers-Dalhausser also exceeded the $1 million mark in prize earnings, the fourth men’s team to reach the milestone. They’ve won $1,032,800, ranking them third behind Brazil’s Emanuel and Ricardo ($1,856,530) and Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes ($1,044,600).
In the women’s tournament, former UCSB star Brooke Hanson and partner Lauren Fendrick, the 16th seeds, finished in fourth place. No. 6 Jennifer Kessy-Boss and April Ross were runners-up, losing in the final to sixth-seeded Sanne Keizer-Marleen Van Iersel of Netherlands.
