Dalhausser-Rosetti takes men’s crown

One of the tallest players on the pro tour joined with one of the military’s top guns as Phil Dalhausser and Jonathan Rosetti defeated local beach king Tyce Mister and Japanese professional Taichi Morikawa in back-to-back sets to take Sunday’s Marianas Cup Beach Volleyball Festival men’s finals at the Pacific Islands Club.

Unlike the women who braved fierce gusts and relentless rain to determine the top team in San Antonio, the men enjoyed relatively tame conditions as the tower-like Dalhausser and the hard-hitting Rosetti scored 21-11 and 21-16 wins to take the best-of-three finals.

Saipan’s top players were joined by bumpers, setters, and spikers from around the region as well as fans interested in watching one of the biggest sporting events in the Marianas as the men ripped off some of the hottest action in the weekend spectacular.

At 6’9”, Dalhausser was an imposing figure on both sides of the net as the AVP Pro Tour’s leading blocker from 2005 proved to be too much for the competition. Even “The Wall’s” defense was breached once in a while, but the nimble Rosetti was there with timely digs and powerful spikes to save score.

After cycling through Saturday’s pool play, Dalhausser-Rosetti cruised through the winners’ bracket unmatched with four straight victories over Hitoshi Yamamoto and Yosuke Wakizaka (21-11), Katsunori Oyama and Katsushi Suda (21-6), local player Gabriel White and Melvin “The Flyin’” Hawaiian (21-11), and fellow tour pro Paul Baxter and Guam’s Jimmy Boomerkang (21-13).

Dalhausser-Rosetti also topped half of the CNMI’s men’s beach volleyball team set to see action at the 2006 Micronesian Games when Mister took the court with Japanese superstar Morikawa in the finals.

While Mister-Morikawa managed to post most points on the champs, the most exciting match came in the second set with the runners-up trailing 20-9. With most of the crowd taken out of the game by the Dalhausser’s dominance, Mister-Morikawa began to work the court and stage a rally.

Point by point, the tandem worked the crowd to a fevered pitch as they closed the gap to 20-16, but Dalhausser-Rosetti closed the door to end the comeback story under the light on center court.

Mister-Morikawa had a decidedly more difficult journey to the final court. After scoring a pair of wins in their first two outings over Ray Mantanona and B.J. Balajadia (21-12) and Russ Quinn and Randy “Big Canyon” Steele (21-17), the duo was sent to the losers’ bracket for three do-or-die matches after their meeting with Baxter-Boomerkang (21-12).

From there, Mister-Morikawa beat Nan “Bangkok Bomber” Intharaluk and Bill Owens (21-14), and White and Melvin (21-14), before getting revenge over Baxter-Boomerkang (23-21) in a highly charged semifinal match to reach center court for the championship.