Redondo Beach’s Sean Rosenthal and partner Phil Dalhausser won gold on Saturday in Long Beach at the $440,000 FIVB Grand Slam Presented by Asics. It was the first FIVB tournament in the U.S. in 10 years.
The victory over Spaniards Gavira Collado and Papblo Herrera Allepuz (21-15 21-18) was Rosenthal’s and Dalhausser’s third of the year on the FIVB tour.
Dalhausser credited Rosenthal’s defense for the victory.
“He (Rosenthal) was amazing. He made every play he could, then I made a few plays toward the end, but he basically won the match for us,” Dalhausser said.
Dalhausser ended the match with two serving aces, the first time he had done that to win a tournament, he said.
Rosenthal and Dalhausser dominated the eighth stop on the FIVB tour, allowing only one game to go to three sets.
Since leaving his longtime partner Todd Rogers to play with Rosenthal, Dalhausser has switched to playing left side. Saturday’s victory was only his third left side victory. Rosenthal joked that his partner needs only 65 more left side victories to equal his number of right side victories.
Adding to Rosenthal’s and Dalhausser’s home court advantage was “Rosie’s Raiders” raucous SouthBay cheering section.
Rosenthal said the tournament felt a lot like an AVP event, but with an even bigger stadium and more challenging competition
“To win on this tour is not easy to do. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win more than anybody else, so we are going to try to win a few more and put our goal out of reach of anyone else,” Rosenthal said.
The tournament’s top ranked team of Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson lost the bronze medal match to Italy’s Nicolai/Lupo (21-16, 21-13).
The women’s FIVB Grand Slam finals was an all Brazilian event. Taiana Lima and Talita Antunes prevailed (20-22, 20-15, 15-13) over Brazilian sisters Maria Clara Salgado and Carolina Salgado. Germany’s Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler earned the bronze medal by defeating the U.S.’s Jen Kessey and April Ross.
Hermosa’s three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerry Walsh-Jennings sat out the FIVB Grand Slam competition because of an injury, but did compete on Saturday in the Asics World Series Cup.
The Asics World Series Cup was a four team tournament featuring two U.S. teams and one team each from Germany and Brazil.
Walsh-Jennings teamed with Whitney Pavlic against Jen Kessey and April Ross in what many considered to be the most exciting match of the week. Walsh Jennings and Pavlic took the first set 21-18 and Kessey and Ross the second set 21-17. In the deciding set, Kessey and Ross were down 9-2, but rallied to a 16-14 victory.
“We let them back in after the first set, we should have won,” said a visibly frustrated Walsh Jennings.
Both women’s teams said they were impressed with the event. “There’s nothing like playing at home, ever,” Walsh Jennings said.
Kessey and Ross said the atmosphere felt like the Olympics, but with a twist. At the London Olympics last year, Ross and Kissy lost the gold medal match to Walsh Jennings and her then partner Misty May-Treanor.
Kessey and Ross were scheduled to play Brazil’s Taiana Lima and Talita Antunes for the World Series Cup Sunday afternoon.
In the 6-player men’s competition in Long Beach, Team Smack defeated SouthBay rival Team Fletch, 15-8.
Team Smack included Smack Sportswear owner Bill Sigler, Olympic team setter Donald Suxho and outside hitter Paul Lotman, UCI national champion Chris Austin and former pros Austin Rester, Curt Toppel, Mark Kerins, Jesse Rambis and NVL president and Hermosa open champ Albert Hannemann.
Team Fletch included FIVB champs Casey Patterson, Brazilian Jose Saldano, Latvian Janis Smedins, and Hermosa locals Matt Feurbringer, Chris McGee, Luke Walton and Casey Jennings.
Olympic bronze medalist Holly McPeak’s team won the six-player women’s championship.
In the Budlight/Smack Pro 4’s tourney on Friday, Jose Loiola’s team beat fellow Hermosan Albert Hannemann’s team. Loilola’s team included Paul Baxter, Ryan Owens, Lauren Fredrick. Hannemann’s teammates included Stafford Slick, John Mesko, and Chelsea Hayes.
In the amateur 4’s, Team Rockstar defeated fellow South Bayans Team USA. Both teams are from the SouthBay.
