USA Olympians Lucena/Dalhausser start quickly with men’s pool play win at FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam

Long Beach, Calif., USA, August 24, 2016 — USA Olympians Nick Lucena/Phil Dalhausser got things started in a hurry on their ‘home country’ sand, winning their first of three main draw pool play matches Wednesday at the internationally-televised ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball that features the $800,000 FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam being held in Long Beach, Calif.The 2016 FIVB World Tour regular season is concluding in the United States with the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball being held Tuesday through Sunday on a colorful purpose-built venue at Alamitos Beach adjacent to Marina Green Park on East Shoreline Drive.While the men played one of three pool play matches Wednesday, the women in the 32-team, double-gender tournament played two of their three pool play matches. After Thursday’s final pool play matches the top three teams in each of six four-person pools will advance to the single-elimination ‘knockout rounds’ on Friday and Saturday with the medal matches in both genders being played on Sunday.Back from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games where they finished fifth, USA’s top-seeded Lucena/Dalhausser came out swinging to overwhelm France’s surprising 32nd-seeded qualifiers Romain Di Giatommaso/Maxime Thiercy in straight sets, 21-10, 21-17 in just 29 minutes. France’s youthful Thiercy/Di Giatommaso was the only team that advanced to the main draw by having to play two qualifying matches on Tuesday. While this is the fourth consecutive year that the FIVB World Tour has stopped in Long Beach, Calif., the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball featuring the $800,000 FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam is the 22nd men’s event of the season and 19th women’s event on the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour that started with three events at the end of 2015.USA REMARKSFollowing their quick, two-set victory Wednesday, both Dalhausser and Lucena were ready for post-match interviews.Three-time Olympian Dalhausser commented first, “It’s good to be home, it’s too bad we couldn’t bring hardware home. I guess it wasn’t in the cards. I get to sleep in my own bed tonight and that’s the best. There is a little hangover. The Olympics is the biggest event in our sport. To come and play, this is a big tournament for us. It’s not the Olympics, there is a little hangover and it’s a little …

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