Dalhausser wins with third different partner in 2022

TAVARES, Florida — Nick Lucena couldn’t help himself.

Once one of the best defenders of this generation of beach volleyball players, Lucena, who retired after AVP Atlanta earlier this summer, switched roles during this weekend’s AVP Pro Series in Central Florida to coaching duties, overseeing a triumphant run to the finals from Tri Bourne and John Hyden. And after a tremendous final between his team and Phil Dalhausser and Taylor Crabb, which went to Dalhausser and Crabb 21-18, 21-19, Lucena switched roles once more, taking the mic from AVP emcee Mark Schuermann, because he, and he alone, has the temerity to ask the question everyone else wanted asking.

“I wanted to ask the crowd and see if they wanted to see Phil play for another 18 months and make a run at the Paris Olympics,” said Lucena, one of Dalhausser’s longest friends as well as his partner for both the Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games.

“Who would want to see that? He’s still the best. Look at him smiling. He’s so happy right now!”

Dalhausser laughed and wagged his finger. No, no. He’s finished with international travel. But the question is fun, and it was, to be sure, the one on everyone’s minds. How could it not have been? Here was Dalhausser, at 42 years old, playing with a partner he had never played with, winning every single set of every single match. The last time he won a tournament with a clean slate? The 2018 Fort Lauderdale Major, with Lucena behind him. Here was Dalhausser, leading the field in both hitting percentage (.581) and aces (8). Here was Dalhausser, joining a list of just two other players — Kent Steffes and April Ross — who have won events with three partners in the same season, a stat unearthed by Schuermann.

And, of course, here was Dalhausser, doing what he has done for nearly two decades, giving all the credit to his partner.

“I didn’t have to do too much this weekend, playing with Taylor,” he said. “He’s so good at volleyball. It’s almost like we knew where we were at and everything was pretty smooth.”

It needed to be, too. Twice, Dalhausser and Crabb played Hyden and Bourne. Twice, they needed every point to win. In the quarterfinals — one of the better matches all season on the AVP — Dalhausser and Crabb would win, 27-25, 22-20, outlasting the former partners turned new again despite hitting nearly six percent…