Reports & Picture From USA Volleyball/ B.J. Hoeptner Evans
 
The U.S. beach volleyball team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won gold while Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh settled for silver on Sunday at the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil presented by Sanderson Ford in Glendale, Ariz. The United States defeated Brazil in the Country Challenge, 26-22.

In the women’s bracket, Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca defeated May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.), 21-11, 21-16 in the 43 minutes in the gold medal match after losing to them in Saturday night’s final round of pool play.

May-Treanor and Walsh had not played together in a professional tournament, domestic or international, since winning the AVP Manhattan Beach Open on September 20, 2008. The AVP World Challenge was May-Treanor’s first professional tournament of the 2009 season.

“For the first tournament back, not being 100 percent, we had a good tournament,” May-Treanor said. “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.”

Jen Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) claimed bronze with a 21-81, 21-15 win in 43 minutes over Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes.

For complete results from Glendale, click here.

Gold medal matches will be televised nationally on Versus Sunday, Oct. 4 at 3 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. EDT. More than 10 hours of the action, including the gold medal matches, are available now on avpTV. To start watching avpTV for free, click here.