The USA four-team Olympics beach volleyball roster is set.
When Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb lost on Saturday in the FIVB four-star event in Ostrava, Czech Republic, it knocked them out of the race and left Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena in.
“Dalcena” joins Crabb’s brother, Taylor, and Jake Gibb as the two USA men’s teams that will play in Tokyo in July.
The women’s teams are April Ross and Alix Klineman and Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil, but Ross and Klineman forfeited their quarterfinal match Saturday while Claes and Sponcil knocked out 19th-seeded Barbara Seixas and Carolina Salgado of Brazil 21-15, 21-16.
Claes and Sponcil play Switzerland’s Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich in Sunday’s final.
Third-seeded Verge-Depre and Heidrich swept second-seeded Canadians Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in the first semifinal 21-19, 21-18.
Ross and Klineman were set to play Verge-Depre and Heidrich in the quarterfinals, but one of them was evidently injured. The “A Team” won both their matches easily on Friday.
Accordingly, three of the four Olympic teams left Ostrava on a down note. Dalhausser and Lucena lost their two pool-play matches. Gibb-Crabb went 1-1 in pool play and then lost their first match in the qualifier bracket. And the A Team didn’t even play its last match.
The men’s final features 19th-seeded Andre Loyola and George Wanderley of Brazil — who knocked out Bourne and Crabb — versus 22nd-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands, and fourth-seeded Russians Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy against the home team, top-seeded Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner of Czech Republic.
Bourne and Trevor Crabb, the No. 12 seed who needed to win the tournament to get one of the Olympic bids and bounce Dalhausser and Lucena, lost in the round of 16 to Loyola and Wanderley 21-19, 21-18.
From USA Volleyball about Dalhausser and Lucena:
A strong start to 2021 propelled Dalhausser/Lucena into an Olympic berth. They passed Bourne/Tr. Crabb in the rankings after finishing fourth in Doha in March, and they extended their lead by reaching the quarterfinals of the next four tournaments, including claiming bronze in Cancun.
This will be the second consecutive Olympic Games for Dalhausser/Lucena as they competed in Rio 2016. They won their pool and tied for fifth.
Dalhausser also competed in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Partnering with Todd Rogers, Dalhausser won gold in Beijing and earned Most Outstanding Player designation.
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So does Tri stay with Trevor going forward? Or does he upgrade Crabb brothers next year?