Aug. 13, 2008

Story courtesy of USA Volleyball.

BEIJING, China - Todd Rogers had 22 kills and six digs as he and partner Phil Dalhausser defeated Argentina's Martin Conde and Mariano Baracetti, 21-12, 21-13 on Wednesday in their final Olympic pool play match at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Grounds.

Rogers and Dalhausser, ranked second, complete pool play with a 2-1 record. They need the Swiss team of Sascha Heyer and Patrick Heuscher to defeat Latvia's Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs on Wednesday night to advance as the top seed from Pool B.

Conde and Baracetti, ranked 14th, have a record of 1-2 and also need the Swiss team to defeat the Latvians in order to advance. Conde is playing in his fourth Olympics and has said he is retiring. Baracetti is playing in his third.

The Argentines, who are 6-foot-1 (Conde) and 6-4 (Baracetti), knew they could not beat the block of the 6-9 Dalhausser, so they served Rogers to try to avoid it.

"We knew we had no chance to win, as they are the best team," Baracetti said. "We did try today. We played different. We hit hard."

Dalhausser finished with three aces, six kills and three blocks. Combined, the Argentines compiled 16 kills, no blocks and no aces.

"The guys were forced to serve to me because Phil is too big," Rogers said. "I enjoy when people serve to me. I don't know why, but I'd rather have it that way. In general, I enjoy that challenge."

In the first set, with the United States leading 12-9, Rogers used three straight kills, followed by a Dalhausser block, to increase the lead to 16-9. Argentina never recovered.

In the second set, with the United States ahead 12-10, Rogers got the serve back for the United States with a kill. Dalhausser opened up a 4-0 scoring run with an ace to put Team USA ahead 17-10.

-- UCSBGauchos.com --