U.S. captures inaugural AVP World Challenge title

Despite already boasting three of the past four Olympic gold medals, the United States is officially the best country on the beach. It won the inaugural AVP World Challenge over Brazil by splitting the men's and women's championship matches Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

Americans and reigning Olympic champions Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the men's crown with a 21-14, 21-15 victory in the final over Brazil's Harley Marques and Alison Cerruti. The win secured the overall title for the U.S. by a margin of 26-22.

On the women's side, Americans and reigning Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost in the final to Brazil's Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca, 21-11, 21-16. It was the only defeat of the weekend for May-Treanor and Walsh, who beat Juliana and Larissa in their final pool match Saturday night.

May-Treanor and Walsh were playing in their first professional tournament together since September 2008. Walsh didn't play her first match of 2009 until August as she gave birth to a son in May. It was May-Treanor's first event since injuring her Achilles tendon last October.

"For the first tournament back, not being 100 percent, we had a good tournament," May-Treanor said in AVP release. "We played better in the evening, it's hard in the heat, and we served better last night. We'll work on getting better."

"Misty can still hold her own and I'm really proud of her," Walsh said. "We made some execution errors today, and Juliana and Larissa are the best team in the world right now."

Larissa and Juliana won the 2009 FIVB season title for the fourth time with eight titles on the FIVB World Tour this season. They didn't compete together in the 2008 Olympics because of a knee injury to Juliana, but took second at the 2009 FIVB Worlds after losing to Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross in the final. In Arizona, Kessy and Ross won the women's bronze with a 21-18, 21-15 win over Brazil's Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes, the No. 2-ranked international team this season.

In the men's final match on Sunday, Dalhausser dominated with seven aces and eight blocks.

"I was fired up, probably more fired up than I've ever been, with all of Team USA behind me," Dalhausser said. "I just wanted to go out there and leave it out on the court."

It was the second victory of the weekend for Rogers and Dalhausser over Harley and Alison, as the Americans also won their pool play match on Friday. Rogers and Dalhausser's only defeat came Saturday night to Brazil's Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, who ended up taking third overall with a 21-18, 21-13 win on Sunday over Brad Keenan and Nick Lucena.

Harley and Alison are the No. 2-ranked team on the FIVB Tour this season, and took silver at the 2009 FIVB Worlds, where Rogers and Dalhausser won bronze. Emanuel and Ricardo were the 2004 Olympic gold medalists and 2008 Olympic bronze medalists.

The World Challenge tournament featured the four best men's and women's teams from Brazil and the U.S. in a round-robin tournament similar to golf's Ryder Cup. Each team per gender played the four teams from the other country, and the teams that emerged from pool play with the best records moved on to the bronze and gold medal matches. Each country's second-place pool play team went to the bronze medal match, while the first-place teams went to the championship matches.

In addition to a men's and women's winner, a country challenge bonus was given to the country that won the most matches. Each round robin match was worth one point, the bronze medal matches were worth three points and the gold medal matches were worth five.