Long Beach, California, USA, Aug. 27, 2016 – Top-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena of the United States and second-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia won kept their hope alive for a post-Olympic title by reaching the semifinals of the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam Saturday.
Quick links - Long BeachLong Beach Grand Slam websiteQualification - MenQualification - WomenMain draw - MenMain draw - WomenOlympians Dalhausser and Lucena will meet Italians Alex Ranghieri and Marco Caminati in one semifinal. Dalhausser and Lucena, who placed fifth in the Rio 2016 Olympics, are in their sixth semifinal and are seeking their fourth title of 2016 on the FIVB World Tour.
Ranghieri, who played in the Olympics with Adrian Carambula, is playing for the first time with the 23-year-old Caminati.
Samoilovs and Smedins, another Olympic duo, will take on Brazilian Olympians Pedro Solberg and Evandro Goncalves in the other semifinal. Pedro and Evandro are the third-seeded team in the event.
Dalhausser and Lucena advanced with a 21-16, 21-19 victory over Olympians Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera of Spain.
Ranghieri and Caminati, who are seeded No. 20, outlasted Poland’s Michal Bryl and Kacper Kujawiak, 21-16, 19-21, 15-13 to reach the final four.
In the afternoon quarterfinals, Evandro and Pedro knocked out Mexican Olympic duo Lombardo Ontiveros and Juan Virgen, 21-17, 21-15. Samoilovs and Smedins upended fifth-seeded Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor, 14-21, 21-9, 16-14.
The semifinals will be played later Saturday afternoon with the medal matches scheduled for Sunday on Alamitos Beach.