End of an era: Phil Dalhausser ready for his final AVP Manhattan Beach Open

MANHATTAN BEACH — Phil Dalhausser hit a fork in the road shortly after graduating from the University of Central Florida more than two decades ago.

Take his parents advice and get a “real” job, or follow his friend Nick Lucena to South Carolina, where they could pursue their dreams of becoming professional beach volleyball players while living rent free.

Dalhausser was hesitant at first, but he’s glad he chose the latter.

“Completely changed the direction of our lives,” Lucena said.

Four years after that fateful decision, Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Switzerland, becoming the first-ever American team to win gold at the tournament. The following year, they won gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Dalhausser went on to qualify for the next three Olympics and won dozens of AVP and FIVB events along the way, winning seven USA Beach Volleyball Player of the Year awards and solidifying himself as one of the greatest the sport has ever seen.

Now 45 years old, Dalhausser is set to play in his final Manhattan Beach Open this weekend, teaming with former Long Beach State indoor standout Trevor Crabb, who won the event last year with Theo Brunner.

Nicknamed the “Thin Beast,” the 6-foot-9 Dalhausser has won the tournament seven times (with three different partners) in his 23-year career.

He’ll be gunning for an eighth.

“It would really be nice to go out with a Manhattan win, that’s for sure,” Dalhausser said on Wednesday. “Anytime you play in Manhattan, there’s always extra motivation, but there might be some extra, extra motivation for this one.”

Dalhausser’s odds of finishing atop the 32-team field are even better because the AVP’s top team, 2024 Olympians Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, are in Montreal this weekend competing in an FIVB event.

“I don’t think there’s many teams that can beat them,” said Lucena, who returned to play with Dalhausser in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

Dalhausser might not be the same player he was 15 years ago, but he still has a long frame supported by springy legs, soft hands that can set with ease, and an array of powerful and pinpoint shots.

He displayed a high level of play while going 6-2 with Crabb during the league portion of the AVP schedule this season, earning a berth in the AVP League Championships over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.

“He’s still one of the better blockers out there, one of the better offensive players, one of the better servers, so he could probably do this another five years,” former AVP pro John Hyden said.

Dalhausser said he’s ready to step aside in hopes of gaining some mental freedom.

He wants to take days off from training without feeling guilty or veer away from his strict diet without having remorse.

“If I miss a workout, I can’t shake it,” he said. “Or, if I eat a Snickers, I’m like, ‘Eh, I probably shouldn’t be eating this,’ because then it’s in the back of my mind all day. So, stuff like that just kind of drives me nuts.”

Volleyball wasn’t a part of Dalhausser’s life until he went out for the indoor team as a senior at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida.

He began playing on the beach with Lucena while they were in college, entering local tournaments. The AVP seemed a million miles away at that time, mainly because the tour was dominated by players from Hawaii and Southern California.

Their big break came in 2003, when they met pro beach players Adam Roberts and Matt Heath, who invited them to live rent-free in Myrtle Beach, train full time and learn the ropes of the profession.

Dalhausser had a business administration degree from UCF, but he was paying rent by working for a friend’s construction company, painting lines on newly paved roadways in the scorching Florida sun.

“I didn’t really mind actually,” he said. “I was fine with it.”

Lucena didn’t let up, however.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, we got a place to stay. We can play volleyball,’ and he was really thinking about not doing it,” Lucena said. “His dad wasn’t really about him playing volleyball. He didn’t think he could make a living out of it.”

Dalhausser initially committed for two weeks, but “ended up staying there for two years.”

It was far from stylish living, however.

When they were too broke to afford food, they would find a tournament and drive all night to get there, using their prize money to restock the refrigerator. To save money on hotels, they would often sleep on the beach, not far from the courts.

When Dalhausser was 23, he remembers having a conversation with his parents, assuring them he would only give beach volleyball a try until he was 25.

“At 25, me and Nick won our first professional tournament,” Dalhausser said.

Casey Jennings remembers the first time he saw Dalhausser play at an event in Fort Lauderdale in 2004.

Dalhausser was pounding ball after ball into the sand during warmups, even when faced with a stiff block.

“He was hitting the ball so hard, but no one knows who he was,” Jennings said. “So, what would happen a lot of times is you’d see guys in warmups, or the day before, and you’d be like, ‘Wow, that guy looks really good,’ but as you’re around the game longer, you’re like, ‘that guy’s going to suck at passing. He hits really hard, but that’s all he’s going to be able to do. He’s got one skill and you’ll never see him again.’”

That wasn’t the case with Dalhausser.

“Phil’s built for longevity,” Hyman said.

Eventually, he and Lucena moved to Santa Barbara and posted their first career AVP win in Austin, Texas, in 2005, defeating volleyball legend Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert in a three-set match.

Dalhausser changed partners in 2006 and he and Rogers produced one of the most dominant stretches in U.S. beach volleyball history over the next four years, not only winning world and Olympic gold medals, but reaching the semifinals in 39 consecutive AVP events.

“When I played with him, I realized pretty early on that it was my job to get us to the semifinals,” Rogers said. “Once we got to the semis, or the last day, Phil had an extra gear. Like, he had a gear that no one else could match.”

Jake Gibb, the AVP’s Most Valuable Player in 2005, said Dalhausser was the best player from his generation.

“For sure the hardest and most dominating player I’ve ever played against,” Gibb said. “Nobody could get in your head like Phil.”