COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 22, 2010) – In a match that was supposed to take place at the finals of the AVP Nivea Tour event in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, the U.S. beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers defeated countrymen Matt Fuerbringer and Nick Lucena on Thursday to advance to the third round of the Brasilia Open, the first stop on the 2010 SWATCH FIVB World Tour.

Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), ranked third in the tournament, are the only U.S. men’s team that remains undefeated in Brazil. They beat 14th-seeded Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), 21-17, 21-17 in 44 minutes.

Dalhausser and Rogers will play Brazil’s 11th-seeded Pedro Cunha and Thiago Santos Barbosa in the third round on Friday.

Fuerbringer and Lucena are still playing in the consolation bracket as are the U.S. men’s teams of Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.) along with Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.).

In the women’s bracket, 31st-ranked Brooke Hanson (Woodland Hills, Calif.) and Lisa Rutledge (Vista, Calif.) beat Finland’s 26th-seeded Emilia and Erika Nystrom to advance to the fourth round, where it lost to U.S. teammates, third-ranked Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), 21-17, 21-14 in 34 minutes.

Kessy and Ross, who made it to the fourth round by defeating Russia’s 11th-ranked Maria Bratkova and Eugenia Ukolova, 21-19, 21-16 in 44 minutes, advanced to Friday’s semifinals where they will await an opponent from the consolation bracket.

Hanson and Rutledge can still advance to the semifinals, but must win a consolation match on Friday to get there. They will play either 10th-seeded Sara Montagnolli and Barbara Hansel of Austria or ninth-ranked Carolina Solberg Salgado and Maria Clara Salgado Rufino of Brazil.

The U.S. women’s teams of Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) along with Lauren Fendrick (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Ashley Ivy (Arlington, Texas) have been eliminated from the tournament.

May-Treanor and Branagh, seeded 20th, lost to Germany’s fifth-ranked Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig, 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-12) in 57 minutes in the third round on Thursday. Then they fell to Montagnolli and Hansel in consolation, 21-16, 21-18 in 42 minutes, and finished the tournament tied for ninth.

Fendrick and Ivy lost to Brazil’s sixth-ranked Vanilda Leão and Angela Vieira, 23-21, 21-16 in 40 minutes and finished the tournament tied for 17th.

In men’s play on Thursday, Dalhausser and Rogers opened the day by defeating Venezuela’s Jackson Henriquez and Farid Mussa, 21-11, 21-10 in 33 minutes.

Fuerbringer and Lucena opened by beating 19th-ranked Inocencio Lario and Raul Mesa of Spain, 21-13, 21-12 in 40 minutes. After losing to Dalhausser and Rogers, they will play 29th-seeded Anders Hoyer and Bo Soderberg of Denmark in consolation on Friday.

Gibb and Rosenthal, seeded ninth, beat Japan’s 24th ranked Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori, 21-19, 21-18 in 41 minutes in the first round before losing to Brazil’s eighth-seeded Pedro Salgado and Ricardo Santos, 21-17, 22-20 in 45 minutes. Gibb and Rosenthal will play Italy’s 23rd-ranked Matteo Varnier and Paolo Nicolai on Friday.

Jennings and Keenan, ranked 12th, defeated Germany’s 21st-ranked Sebastian Dollinger and. Stefan Windscheif, 2-1 (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) in 55 minutes in the first round. They fell to Brazil’s fifth-seeded Emanuel Rego and Alison Cerutti, 2-1 (21-18, 28-30, 15-13) in 63 minutes in the second round. They will play Italy’s 22nd-ranked Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso on Friday.