It has not been a good start for the Americans in the Olympics beach volleyball knockouts. Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are officially done after losing to Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse of Qatar.
Set One
At the first side change, the US had a 9-5 lead. Out of the break, the US had a 13-7 lead. When Qatar got doubled up on, a technical timeout was called. The Americans have a 150-7 record when winning the first set. That equates to an incredible 96%. No matter the result of the Olympics, Dalhausser will be retiring from international competition. The US hit the gas pedal and won the set 21-14 handing Qatar their first set loss in the Olympics.
Set Two
The second set was back and forth at the start. The score became tied at 9 and then Qatar took the lead. That happened on a 5-1 scoring run. Dalhausser was playing out of his mind. He has not won gold since 2008, and Lucena has never won. The team of 41 year olds came into Tokyo extra motivated. With Qatar winning 17-16, the US took their timeout. Qatar fired back on a 5-0 run and eventually took the set 21-19.
Set Three
Qatar took their game to the next level and the US began to struggle. Dalhausser showed off his rocket launcher of an arm even at age 41. Qatar handled it well but the Americans still got the point. Lucena tried to keep Dalhausser energized in the set to get him to keep firing. Meanwhile, Lucena fired as well and showed off what he can do and kept them alive. Qatar took their timeout as they set up for the finish. The US ran out of gas and lost 15-11, thus eliminating them for the Olympics.
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