Dalhausser-Rosenthal win gold; Rogers-Brunner take bronze in Long Beach

Santa Barbara was well represented on the podium at the FIVB Asics World Series of Beach Volleyball in Long Beach on Sunday. Former resident Phil Dalhausser and partner Sean Rosenthal won the gold medal, beating Poland’s Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, 22-24, 21-8, 15-12. Finishing in third place was Todd Rogers and Theo Brunner.

The UCSB alums defeated Alexander Walkenhorst and Stefan Windscheif of Germany, 21-17, 18-21, 15-12. It was the best finish on the FIVB World Tour for Rogers and Brunner, who had to win a qualifying match on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Asics “money” rounds. The Gold medal-winning teams in each gender in Long Beach split $70,000, the silver finishers shared $52,000, bronze placers divided $40,000 and the fourth-place finishers split $30,000 of the $1-million total purse for men and women.

The victory by the top-seeded Dalhausser-Rosenthal avenged a loss against Fijalek and Prudel in the final of the FIVB tournament in the Netherlands the previous week.

With a 42-7 match mark this season and 27 wins in their last 28 matches, Dalhausser-Rosenthal have a 78-15 record together and are now 6-1 in FIVB title matches.

In the women’s final, top-seeded Americans April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings outlasted fifth-seeded South Americans Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas 2-0 (21-17 and 21-17) in 37 minutes. In the third-place match, 14th-seeded Natalia Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova of the Slovak Republic posted a 2-1 (21-19, 12-21 and 15-13) in 49 minutes over fourth-seeded Liliana Fernandez and Elsa Baquerizo of Spain.