USA’s Doherty/Mayer upsets top seeds to advance to semis, medal matches at FIVB Cincinnati Open

Mason, Ohio, USA, May 20, 2016 – Fighting through a day of three rounds of competition and some drizzling skys to set the final four for Saturday, the biggest quarterfinal upset Friday saw USA’s 10th-seeded Ryan Doherty/John Mayer defeat top-seeded USA compatriots top-seeded Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson in three sets to advance to the final day of the double-gender FIVB Cincinnati Open, presented by AVP. Joining USA’s Doherty/Mayer will be second-seeded fellow Americans Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, Brazil’s 13th-seeded young lions Gustavo Carvalhaes/Saymon Barbosa and Canada’s seventh-seeded Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter.The event, which is one of the last three Olympic qualifiers through the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is being held through Saturday at the prominent Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio and the seventh tournament in the stretch of eight straight events on the FIVB World Tour. Next week the FIVB World Tour returns to Russia for the double-gender FIVB Moscow Grand Slam.SEMI MATCHUPSTo start Saturday’s final day, the men’s semifinal matches will open with USA’s Doherty/Mayer facing off against Brazil’s 22-year old phenoms Carvalhaes/Barbosa followed by Canada’s Binstock/Schachter lining up against USA’s Dalhausser/Lucena. This will be the first meeting for all four teams in a FIVB World Tour event.In the first men’s semifinal, USA’s Doherty/Mayer are playing in their ninth FIVB World Tour event as a team with a best finish of fifth place. In Cincinnati, they have a 5-1 record with their only setback to Canada’s final four team of Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter. Brazil’s youthful Carvalhaes/Barbosa are playing in just their eighth FIVB World Tour event with three bronze medals, both won in Brazil and last year’s FIVB Rio Open and this year at the FIVB Maceio Open. In Cincinnati, the dynamic duo has a 5-0 record including two wins over USA’s Hyden/Bourne.In the second semifinal, USA’s Dalhausser/Lucena are playing in their 13th FIVB World Tour event as a team with eight final four finishes, including four gold medals and four silver medals.  Individually, Dalhausser, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist playing with Todd …

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