Dalhausser earns historic 100th win in Long Beach

LONG BEACH, United States, July 26, 2020 – Beijing 2008 Olympic champion Phil Dalhausser added yet another accolade to this storied beach volleyball career as the 40-year-old American won a tournament for the 100th time on Sunday, when he triumphed at the second event of the 2020 AVP Champions Cup in Long Beach, California with Nick Lucena. 

Dalhausser and Lucena, who had won the inaugural event of the season last week at the same location, showed even more impressive form in the second tournament as they dominated the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Chetumal event winners Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb in a 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) victory in the gold medal match. 

The triumph marked the 100th title won by Dalhausser in a professional career that started in 2003. Besides the 2008 Olympics, victories for the ‘Thin Beast’ also include the 2007 FIVB World Championships, 38 FIVB World Tour events, one NORCECA Tour tournament and 58 stops of the American AVP and one of the earlier National Volleyball League (NVL). 

“It hasn’t sunk it actually,” Dalhausser said in a post-match interview. “I’m just so grateful to be playing this sport for such a long time. But to get to 100 wins, it’s pretty cool. It’s nice that I got to do it with Nick too.” 

The second of three events scheduled for the 2020 season also had repeat winners among the women as April Ross and Alix Klineman secured their second gold medal in as many weeks and their ninth in 14 AVP events. 

The Americans had a rematch of the 2019 FIVB World Championships against Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes and this time came out on top with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) victory. More than the win, though, the Americans appreciated the fact that they played better than last week. 

“I think part of the adrenaline and the anxiety wore off after we returned to play last week and we played higher level volleyball this time,” Klineman reflected. “This tournament is challenging in a unique way because we’ll need to play at our best from the very first match to win and I feel that we did better in that regard this time.” 

The men’s tournament had Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb and Casey Patterson/Theo Brunner finishing third among the men while Sara Hughes/Brandie Wilkerson and Emily Day/Lauren Fendrick were the other teams to reach the semifinals among the women. 

The 2020 AVP season will conclude next week with a third tournament in Long Beach.