Top seeds move on to third round
Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers did what they came to do in Charleston -- they came to win. The top-seeded team defeated No. 16 seed A.J. Mihalic and Scott Davenport, 21-14 and 21-13, during the evening qualifying rounds of the 2008 AVP Crocs Tour at the Family Circle Cup on Daniel Island. Things looked bad for Mihalic and Davenport starting with the first serve just from the the way Dalhausser lithely curled his 6'9" frame around the top of the net to reach over and block the incoming play. Throughout both games, his graceful blocking and Rogers defensive power overwhelmed their competitors and left them cold on a balmy night.
This win continues their undefeated run after taking AVP Croc Tours in Miami, Dallas and Huntington Beach, Calif. Rogers was confident about the victory. "It went how we hoped it would," he said. "He (Dalhausser) served well, and they didn't pass as well. That pretty much made the difference."
The duo will go on to play No. 9 Matt Olsen and Kevin Wong, who worked their way through Duncan Budinger and Leonardo Moraes 21-14, 21-13, and on through No. 8 Ryan Mariano and Ed Ratledge 15-21, 21-17, 15-10.
The top women's seed pairing of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs took advantage of the No. 17 seed Jennifer Snyder and Whitney Pavlik. They quickly dispatched their competition 21-15, 21-14. Though Snyder and Pavlik started to rally in the second game with a series of three good spikes, it did not matter, because Youngs blocked it at the net.
She described this game as a warm-up.
"We haven't played since Sunday so it was a long wait," she said about the night game. "But it felt good throughout. Branagh was equally pleased.
"We were patient," she said of the game. "We had never played them before. We just took care of our side of the net."
Both women were delighted to be back in Charleston and echoed a common sentiment among the players.
"We get a lot of support in Charleston," Young said. "We love it here."
Branagh and Youngs will move on to face No. 9 seeded Ashley Ivy and Heather Lowe. Ivy and Lowe won their first match by forfeit and went on to be victorious against No. 8 seed Jenny Kropp and Nancy Mason, 19-21, 21-18, 15-11.
Nick Lucena and Sean Scott, No. 4, won out against Billy Allen and Paul Baxter. That moves them on to battle it out with No. 5 Fred Souza and Anthony Medel in the third round, set for Friday. In round two, Souza and Medel overcame No. 21 Mike DiPierro and Mark Van Zwieten, 21-15, 25-23.
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