After London, the American teams break up
Dalhausser joins forces with Rosenthal
T
he news of the end of one of the most pro- lific partnerships in beach volleyball his- tory was officially delivered on a podcast. Phil Dalhausser, who spent seven seasons with
Todd Rogers winning events around the world, announced on the Internet volleyball radio show “The Net Live” he would be joining forces with Sean Rosenthal for the 2013 season. “It’s official, I’m playing with Rosie,” he said on the online broadcast.
In essence, the move broke up both of
America’s top men’s beach teams since Rosenthal will be making a split from long-time partner Jake Gibb. Rosenthal split with Gibb despite finishing fifth in the last two Olympics with the Utah native and also earning the No. 1-ranking on the FIVB Beach Volleyball SWATCH World Tour in 2012. Both Dalhausser and Rosenthal are both 32. The new union ends speculation that two of the most athletic players in the world would be join- ing forces. The move would also allow Dalhausser to switch to the right side.
Dalhausser said he was looking forward to a fresh start in 2013 after the disappointment of a ninth-place finish in London. He said Rogers, 38, was comfortable with the move. “He’s a smart guy — he’s ‘The Professor.’ He saw it coming,” Dalhausser said. “We didn’t have a great year. At some point, teams reach their peak and have no where else to go and trickle down on the other side of the peak, and that’s where we were at in the process. Losing sucks and I felt like making the change.”
Rogers said he endorsed his partner’s selec- tion of Rosenthal. “I think they can be a fantastic team if they train correctly,” he said. “I would have liked to play with Phil at least one more year, but I understand. We just didn’t have the same energy, chemistry and motivation this year we had in the past. And the results showed that. I still think when we were right mentally and physi- cally we could beat anybody in the world.” The breakup of the Dalhausser-Rogers com- bination ends one of the most successful runs of all-time.
The pair won 23 FIVB titles, including the Olympic gold in 2008 and nine FIVB Grand Slam titles. In total they won 66 events and $1.5 million in prize money together.
“There are no hard feelings,” Rogers said. “I figured this is how it would end.”
USAVOLLEYBALL.ORG | 57
SUPER TEAM?: Phil Dalhausser (above) and Sean Rosenthal (left) will team up for the 2013 beach vol- leyball season. (Photos: Mark J. Rebilas / US PRESS- WIRE, Andrew Weber / US PRESSWIRE)
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