truebluefan

Stavanger, Norway

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

As this southwestern coastal city noted as the "oil" capital of Norway hosts a SWATCH FIVB World Tour stop for the 10th-straight year, the 2008 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam is also the "prelude" for the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships at Vaagen Harbour.

Featuring both men's and women's Beach Volleyball competition for the seventh season, Stavanger will stage the seventh edition of the SWATCH FIVB World Championships since 1997 with competition scheduled from June 26 through July 5, 2009, on a unique two "centre court" setup on the Vaagen Harbour dockside.

Stavanger secured the bid for the second-most prestigious event for the sport of Beach Volleyball this past February after the Norwegian city competed with Moscow. Norway will be the fifth European country to host the event since 1997.

"It was a long and fair battle between Moscow and Stavanger to win the bid, but in the end the experience gained by Norway in organizing major Beach Volleyball events over the past few years prevailed," said FIVB President Dr. Rubén Acosta when announcing the site selection at the end of February. "It will be really tough for Stavanger to present an event better than the last edition in Gstaad, but next year I'm expecting the best World Championships ever."

Legendary Norwegian Beach Volleyball player Bjorn Maaseide and World Events of Stavanger led Stavanger's effort in gaining the host role for the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Championships. A winner of seven SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals with Jan Kvalheim, Maaseide received an "early" present with the successful bid as the FIVB awarded Stavanger the host role seven days before the Norwegian's 40th birthday (March 7).

"We're delighted to be the first Northern Europe country to host an FIVB World Championship and NRK (Norwegian television) will give its best as host broadcaster, showcasing the Beach Volleyball stars and the beauty of the host city all over the world," said Maaseide, who will be competing in his 156th FIVB event this week with Iver Horrem.

"This is the biggest victory ever in Beach Volleyball for Norway," added Maaseide. "After nine years of tournaments, a dream comes true. We received the bid due to the great support of our Institutions, the Minister of Culture, the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Stavanger's Mayor."

With the 2009 SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships set to take place over 10 days on two courts, an innovative tournament formula will be used with US$1-million in prize money. After being an "open" event for the first six years, the Stavanger stop became a SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam event in 2005. Women's competition was introduced in 2002.

The FIVB renewed the Beach Volleyball World Championships in 1997 with Los Angeles the host site. The first of five European world finals were staged in Marseille (France) followed by Klagenfurt (Austria) in 2001, Berlin (Germany) in 2005 and Gstaad (Switzerland) in 2007. Brazil staged the 2003 SWATCH FIVB World Championships on Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana Beach.

The 2008 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam features the reigning SWATCH FIVB World Champions, including three-time winners Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States. Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers netted an American sweep in Gstaad of the gold medals by winning the men's title in the Swiss Alp

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

Ahren Cadieux was less than three years old when the Bee Gee's hit record "stayin' alive" was released in 1977, but the Canadian was probably humming the song beneath his breath in qualifying with Mark Heese for men's Main Draw here Wednesday at the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam.

Seeded fourth in the qualifier, the Canadians were one of eight Beach Volleyball tandems from six countries earning a spot for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour "money" rounds as the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam is the third to last qualifying event for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The process continues next week in Moscow and concludes at the July 15-20 event in Marseille, France.

Heese, seeking his fourth Olympic trip after placing third, fifth and fifth in his first three Summer Games appearances with John Child, and Cadieux are currently 40 points behind China's Shun Zhou and Jian Li for the 24th and final spot for the Beijing Beach Volleyball competition.

Zhou and Li, who dropped their qualifying match Wednesday for a spot in the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam Main Draw, have compiled 1,920 Beijing points for their best-eight finishes on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour since May 2007 while the Canadians have compiled 1,880 points.

With the Chinese eliminated by 14th-seeded Bo Soderberg and Anders Lund Hoyer of Denmark (21-18, 13-21 and 15-13) in a Main Draw qualifying match Wednesday, Cadieux and Heese have an opportunity to surpass Zhou and Li. The Canadians, who scored a 20-22, 21-16 and 20-18 qualifying win Wednesday over 12th-seeded Pedro Rosas and Jose Pedrosa of Portugal, must finish ninth or higher surpass Zhou and Li by 100 points on the Olympic list.

Cadieux and Heese can also benefit from a qualifying upset by 18th-seeded compatriots Conrad Leinemann and Richardo VanHuizen, who ousted second-seeded Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs of Latvia 21-19, 19-21 and 15-11. The Latvians are currently 140 points ahead of Cadieux and Heese on the Beijing list with 2,020 points for their best-eight SWATCH finishes during the Olympic qualifying period.

With only three of the top eight-seeded teams advancing from the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam qualifier, other tandems earning Main Draw berths Wednesday were top-seeded Mariano Baracetti/Jose Salema of Argentina, ninth-seeded Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, 11th-seeded Mark Williams/Stein Metzger of the United States and the 12th-seeded Ces brothers (Andy and Kevin) of France.

The 10th SWATCH stop for men this season, the 10th annual ConocoPhillips Grand Slam also features women's competition where two of the three rounds of Main Draw pool play were contested Wednesday. The 32-team men's Main Draw starts Thursday on the dockside City Centre courts at Vaagen Harbour.

The SWATCH FIVB World Tour competition continues through the weekend with the women's semi-finals and medal matches Saturday with the men's "final four" contests being played Sunday. The winning two teams will share the $43,500 first-place prizes while earning points towards qualifying for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

With three teams in the men's Main Draw, Norway failed to advance an additional team as 10th-seeded Kjell Goranson and Vegard Hoidalen was ousted by seventh-seeded Fabien Dugrip/Gregory Gagliano of France 22-20 and 21-16 Wednesday to place 33rd. Goranson and Hoidalen was the host country's top finisher in the 2007 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam with a ninth.

Norwegians already in the Main Draw are Jorre Kjemperud/Tarjei Skarlund, Iver Horrem/Bjorn Maaseide and Oivind Hordvik/Martin Spinnangr. The host country has never had a ConocoPhillips Grand Slam "final four" team with Hoidalen and Kjemperud placing fifth in both in 2001 and 2002.

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

Continuing to enjoy their summer visit to Europe, top-seeded American Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won a pair of pool play matches here Thursday to gain co-leadership of their group at the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam.

As the No. 1-seeded tandem in the 32-team SWATCH FIVB World Tour Main Draw, Rogers and Dalhausser posted wins over teams from Norway and Italy to co-lead Pool J and can capture their group outright Friday by defeating 16th-seeded Martin Laciga and Jan Schnider of Switzerland. Laciga and Schnider also won their two matches on Thursday over teams from Italy and Norway to tie Rogers/Dalhausser for the lead in Pool J.

After Friday's final round of Pool Play, the single-elimination 24-team bracket portion of the tournament starts on Saturday on the Vaagen Harbour dockside courts. The SWATCH FIVB World Tour competition continues through the weekend with the women's semi-finals and medal matches Saturday and the men's "final four" contests being played Sunday. The winning two teams will each share the $43,500 first-place prizes.

Neither Rogers, who has two fifths in four previous appearances here, and Dalhausser, whose only appearance in this tournament was last year's fifth place finish with Rogers, have a podium finish in Stavanger. They are however, the reigning SWATCH FIVB world champions and winners of last week's Grand Slam tournament in Paris.

"We certainly compliment each other very well on the court," said Rogers. "There are so many very good teams from several countries and if you don't play well, you'll lose, simple as that. Phil is a great blocker which helps my defense, but what people don't realize sometimes is that he's also a very good setter. It's all about polishing your game for us right now and we seem to be putting the little things into our game which should help us at the Olympics in August."

Rogers and Dalhausser are playing in their fifth SWATCH FIVB WORLD TOUR event of 2008 this week and they have finished on the podium in each of the previous four. They finished in third place in both the Australian and Italian Opens to start their international season. In the two previous weeks before coming to Stavanger, the American duo finished second in the Berlin Grand Slam prior to winning last week's Grand Slam in Paris. Rogers and Dalhausser are seeking to become the first American men's team to earn a medal in Stavanger.

Outright group leaders with 2-0 match marks after Thursday's 32-match schedule are second-seeded Julius Brink/Christoph Dieckmann of Germany (Pool K), 14th-seeded Mark Williams/Stein Metzger of the United States (Pool L), 13th-seeded Emiel Boersma/Bram Ronnes of the Netherlands (Pool M), fifth-seeded Linyin Xu/Penggen Wu of China (Pool N), 11th-seeded Jake Gibb/Sean Rosenthal of the United States (Pool 0), seventh-seeded Matt Fuerbringer/Casey Jennings of the United States (Pool P) and eighth-seeded Dmitri Barsouk/Igor Kolodinsky of Russia (Pool Q).

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

Netting the No. 1-seeded for a SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam does not ensure an easy path to the semi-finals, so Christoph Dieckmann was not that excited when he and his German partner completed pool play here Friday with the best group results among the top two-ranked teams for the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam.

“We accomplished that feat last week and Paris and it did not mean anything when we played our first elimination last Saturday,” said the 32-year-old Dieckmann as he and Brink seek their best ConocoPhillips Grand Slam finish after placing fifth together the past two years on the Vaagen Harbour dockside courts.

“It does not really matter if you are on the top of the bracket or on the bottom,” Dieckmann added, “as so much depends on the draw. Although you have a first-round bye, you still can face another top seeded team if they did not advance out of their pool as the leader. Last week in Paris, we drew David (Klemperer) and Eric (Koreng), who were seeded sixth, in our quadrant, so it was a tough draw.”

In Paris, Brink and Dieckmann earned the No. 1 seed in the elimination bracket as the Germans posted a better pool play set ratio as compared to top-seeded Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos of Brazil as both teams finish group play with a 2-1 record.

With “byes” in the first-round on the courts within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower, both teams were defeated in the second-round of elimination play as Klemperer and Koreng defeated their German compatriots 13-21, 21-13 and 15-9. With Brink and Dieckmann placing ninth in Paris, Klemperer and Koreng were third.

This week, the second-seeded Brink and Dieckmann won their pool (K) with a 3-0 mark like top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States (Pool J), but the Germans did not lose a set after defeating 15th-seeded Pablo Herrera and Raul Mesa of Spain in two sets (21-16 and 21-15).

Dalhausser and Rogers, the reigning SWATCH-FIVB World champions and winners of last week’s stop in Paris as the third-seeded team, also won Friday, but dropped a set to 16th-seeded Martin Laciga and Jan Schnider of Switzerland (21-15, 20-22 and 15-12).

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

he top two-seeded teams advanced as expected to the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam men’s semi-finals here Saturday, but the first-ever SWATCH FIVB World Tour “final four” appearance by Dutchmen Bram Ronnes and Emiel Boersma topped the Vaagen Harbour highlights on the sixth day of competition.

The 13th-seeded Ronnes and Boersma won three matches Saturday over teams from Italy, Russia and Austria to gain their first “final four” appearances in 25 SWATCH FIVB World Tour starts together. The Dutch pair had placed fifth in three of their past seven FIVB starts in Brazil, Prague and Berlin for their best previous finishes.

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UFC 112: Invincible

truebluefan

It has been 16 years since an American men's Beach Volleyball team had won back-to-back SWATCH FIVB World Tour events as Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers accomplished the feat here Sunday by winning the US$600,000 ConocoPhillips Grand Slam on the Vaagen Harbour centre court.

With a pair of wins Sunday over teams from the Netherlands and Germany, the top-seeded Dalhausser and Rogers validated their gold medal success last Sunday in Paris after the Americans had placed second two weeks ago in Berlin where Brazilian Olympic champions Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos won the German title.

The last-time the United States had a men’s team capture consecutive international Beach Volleyball titles was in March and April 1992 when the legendary tandem of Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos won back-to-back FIVB events in Rio de Janeiro and Sydney. Smith and Stoklos won 10 of the first 19 SWATCH FIVB World Tour events from 1987 through 1992.

With their 29-27 and 21-15 win in 56 minutes over 12th-seeded Jonas Reckermann and Mischa Urbatzka of Germany, Dalhausser and Rogers shared the $43,500 first-place prize and each received the special commemorative Viking sword that goes to the champions. The Americans have medaled in their last six SWATCH FIVB World Tour participations. Reckermann and Urbatzka split $29,500 in netting their first-ever Grand Slam medal.

Sunday’s gold was also the fourth the Dalhausser/Rogers partnership as the pair won a the 2006 Austrian Grand Slam in Klagenfurt and the 2007 SWATCH-FIVB World Championships in Gstaad, Switzerland. The Americans have now defeated Reckermann and Urbatzka the past three weeks on the SWATCH FIVB World Tour elimination bracket wins in Berlin and Paris over the Germans.

Dalhausser, who was named the SWATCH most outstanding player for the event, and Rogers also became the first American men’s team to medal at the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam where teams from Brazil had won the first nine gold medals. Sunday’s “final four” matches did not include a team from the South American country as defending champions Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes failed to advance out of pool play Friday to finish 25th.

With their two wins Sunday, Dalhausser and Rogers also moved within 40 points of tying Emanuel and Ricardo for the top spot on the qualifying list for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Emanuel and Ricardo have 5,500 points for their best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour finishes since May 2007 with the Americans compiling 5,460 points. The Brazilians missed the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam due to a foot injury for Ricardo.

Playing first-time SWATCH “final four” participants Bram Ronnes and Emiel Boersma in Sunday’s second semi-final match, Dalhausser and Rogers scored a 21-19 and 21-13 win over the 13th-seeded team from the Netherlands. Prior to this week’s FIVB event, the Dutch’s best SWATCH finishes were fifths.

Reckermann and Urbatzka advanced to their third SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medal match by defeating second-seeded compatriots Julius Brink and Christoph Dieckmann 21-18, 15-21 and 15-11 in Sunday’s first semi-final match. It was the second meeting between the two teams with Brink and Dieckmann winning the first confrontation with their German rivals last year in Espinho, Portugal.

The semi-final win kept the Reckermann and Urbatzka’s hopes alive for a second German spot in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as they trail David Klemperer and Eric Koreng by 410 points with two events left in the qualifying process. Reckermann and Urbatzka have totaled 3,670 points for their best eight SWATCH FIVB World Tour finishes. Klemperer and Koreng, who placed ninth this week, have 4,080 points.

In the ConocoPhillips Grand Slam bronze medal match, Brink and Dieckmann scored a 21-16 and 21-11 win in 42 minutes over Ronnes and Boersma to split the $23,000 third-place prize as Germany landed two teams on a SWATCH FIVB World Tour for the first-time since 2005 in Portugal.

In addition, Brink and Dieckmann moved into the fifth qualifying spot for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with 4,480 points to move ahead of Russia’s Dmitri Barsouk/Igor Kolodinsky (4,460 points) and Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu of China (4,300). The final two events before the end Beijing process are in Moscow this coming week and Marseille, France (July 15-20).

The ConocoPhillips Grand Slam also featured women’s competition where Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh posted a 21-13 and 21-14 win in 37 minutes over Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vasso Karadassiou of Greece. May-Treanor and Walsh won their third-straight SWATCH event this season with gold medal finishes the previous two weeks in Berlin and Paris.

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UFC 112: Invincible