The Following is a press release from FIVB
Alison & Bruno continue winning ways on FIVB World Tour
Long Beach, Calif., USA, August 23, 2015 – The best in the world played one of the newest teams on the planet as reigning FIVB world champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt captured their fourth-straight gold medal on the international Beach Volleyball circuit by defeating Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in the finals of the third annual US$800,000 ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball here Sunday.
With the 2-1 (21-16, 20-22, 15-13) win in 75 minutes over the 24th-seeded Dalhausser and Lucena, the second-seeded Alison and Bruno completed the 51st “Brazilian sweep” of a FIVB World Tour event as Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca captured the women’s gold medal match before a packed stadium on the TrueCar Court at Alamitos Beach. Sunday’s Brazil vs. United States match-up in both gender’s gold medal matches was the 10th in FIVB World Tour history.
In becoming the first men’s team on the FIVB World Tour to finish atop four-straight podiums since Dalhausser and Rogers accomplished the feat in August 2010, Alison and Bruno shared the $57,000 first-place prize. The Americans, who were playing in their first international event together since 2005, split $43,000 for placing second.
With the Americans leading 9-6 in the third and deciding set, Alison and Bruno scored nine of the last 13 points in the match that was the 60th gold medal meeting between the two countries since the start of sanctioned FIVB men’s Beach Volleyball events in 1987. The series is now tied 30-30.
Dalhausser entered this week’s event as the two-time defending ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball champion after winning the first two events in Long Beach with Sean Rosenthal. The Americans now have to qualify for the Main Draw next week in the Polish Grand Slam.
In the men’s bronze medal match, 10th-seeded Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain rebounded from a “horrible” first-set against fifth-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands to post a 2-1 (9-21, 21-17, 15-12) win in 64 minutes to share the $32,000 third-place prize. The Dutch left southern California with a $24,000 paycheck for placing fourth.
In the women’s medal matches, the second-seeded Talita and Larissa posted a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) win in 54 minutes over the eighth-seeded April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States. Ross and Walsh Jennings were the defending ASICS gold medal winners after defeating Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas of Brazil. In the women’s bronze medal match, sixth-seeded Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany posted a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) win in 47 minutes over seventh-seeded Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy of Australia.
The ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball is the second of two events in the United States this season that are part of the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The first 2015 American Olympic qualifier was held in mid-June at St. Petersburg, Fla. Prior to the St. Petersburg Grand Slam, the last Olympic Beach Volleyball qualifying event in the United States was staged in September 2003 at Carson, Calif.
Following the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball, the final Grand Slam event on the 2015 FIVB World Tour will be played August 25-30 in Olsztyn, Poland. The “test” event for the Rio 2016 Olympics will be staged on September 2-6 at exactly the same location for the Summer Games’ Beach Volleyball competition on Copacabana Beach.
Prior to returning to the United States for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (September 29-October 4), the international circuit will stage “open” tournaments in Russia (Sochi, September 8-13) and China (Xiamen, September 22-27).
Photo via FIVB
