Gstaad, Switzerland, July 9, 2017 - After losing the Gstaad Major gold medal match last July, Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena climbed atop of the Swatch Major Series podium here Sunday by defeating teams from Brazil and Poland to win the title in the $600,000 beach volleyball event in the Swiss Alps village.
Seeded third in the Gstaad Major, Dalhausser and Lucena did not lose a set in seven matches highlighted by a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) gold medal win in 38 minutes over 10th-seeded Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak. In winning his fourth Gstaad title and first with Lucena, the Swiss-born Dalhausser shared the $40,000 first-place prize with his partner.
Sunday’s gold medal win for Dalhausser and Lucena evened their FIVB World Tour series with the Polish pair at 2-2 as Kantor and Losiak had defeated the Americans in the last two meetings last season in Brazil and Canada. For placing second Sunday, Kantor and Losiak shared $32,000.
To advance to the Gstaad Major finals, both teams had to defeat pairs from Beach Volleyball power Brazil. Kantor and Losiak scored a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-13) win in 50 minutes over top-seeded Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho in the first FIVB World Tour meeting between the two teams.
Dalhausser and Lucena earned a spot in their second-straight Gstaad Major finale by defeating sixth-seeded Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) in 46 minutes. The match marked the second-time that the two teams have met in a FIVB semifinal with the Brazilians defeating Dalhausser and Lucena in the Swatch Major Series stop in the United States in mid-February.
In the bronze medal match where the winning team shared the $20,000 third-place prize, Saymon and Alvaro posted a 2-0 (21-12, 21-18) win in 36 minutes over compatriots Evandro and Loyola. It was the fourth-straight FIVB win by Saymon and Alvaro over their Brazilian rivals with the first two victories being in the 2017 season-opening event in the United States at the Fort Lauderdale Major.
Evandro, who captured the 2016 Gstaad Major title with his Rio Olympic partner Pedro Solberg by defeating Dalhausser and Lucena in the two-set Swiss Alps village finale, and Loyola split $16,000 for the fourth-place finish.
Sunday’s final four participants all ranked among the top eight teams on the 2017 FIVB World Tour as Dalhausser and Lucena leave Gstaad in the No. 3 points (2,880 points) to rank behind Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai (3,120) and Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin of Russia (3,100). Saymon/Alvaro (2,840) are fourth followed by Kantor/Losiak (2,770), Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil (2,600), Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg of Brazil (2,460) and Evandro/Loyola (2,460).
With the 18th annual visit to the Swiss Alps village completed, the FIVB World Tour takes a week off before resuming play July 19-23 in Poland for the Olsztyn “four-star” event followed by the $1-million FIVB World Championships July 28 through August 6 in Vienna, Austria.