It’s been a tough 24 hours for the USA Volleyball fans to digest. But Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena’s loss hurts the most. I’ve been rooting for them ever since the last Olympics in Rio. They have a great backstory — two college kids starting out in Florida and playing their way into the beach volleyball scene, eventually making a profession out of it. Phil went on to win gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Todd Rogers, becoming a formidable pair on the FIVB circuit. But, he always envisioned finishing off his excellent career with his buddy Nick. They reunited in 2015 and qualified for Rio, and were seen as favorites, but lost in the Quarterfinals to the eventual Brazilian champions Alison/Bruno on their home sand.
Phil contemplated hanging it up, but there were no coaching opportunities at the time reaching out to him at the time. In 2017, they turned back the clock and won 3 FIVB events and 3 domestic AVP events. During the Olympics Qualification period, at times it looked like they were not interested. But I am so, so proud of the way they fought through the one year postponement of the Olympics due to COVID. Originally the 3rd USA men’s team (each country can only send two), they climbed in rankings to tie with the first team over the course of the 6 events this year.
Getting to play in their last Olympics was not an easy task either. Because Phil sat in front of someone on the flight to Tokyo who tested positive, he was placed under modified quarantine. This meant he could not stay in the Olympics Village, and instead had to stay in an isolation hotel. He could only receive treatment at the end of the day. He and Nick could not practice against other teams, only amongst themselves and use the courts at the end of the day. The situation was really not ideal. Adversity was hitting them on all corners. They lost the opening pool play match to Rio’s bronze medalists, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands. They fought hard to win the next two pool play matches against Brazil’s Alison/Alvaro and Argentina’s Azaad/Capogrosso, both in tiebreaks. A 2-1 record in pool play put them as the third ranked team in pool play.
They would draw Qatar, the current #1 team in the world. Before the match started, on paper, it was obvious that Qatar’s Cherif/Ahmed were the favorites. Phil and Nick would go on to win Set 1 21-14, with Phil getting multiple aces and blocks. In Set 2, Phil and Nick were up 16-14 and were looking good to close out the set in two sets, but Qatar would not let them get away easily. They ended up stealing the second set and then went on to build on the momentum and won Set 3. Phil and Nick lost 2-1 (21-14, 19-21, 11-15). This meant they placed 9th in their last Olympics, and what looks to be their last international tournament.
Thank you Phil and Nick for leaving behind a legacy and allowing us to support you from afar. Having witnessed your wins at AVP NYC in 2018 and 2019 was pretty special. Enjoy the well deserved family time at home! For sure, I’ll continue to root for these two buddies when they (hopefully) play in AVP’s.
TVB and Thai Lakorns 