A HUGE congrats to Tri Bourne, 25, and John Hyden, 41, who won the gold at the FIVB Berlin Grand Slam this weekend! Also congrats to Ryan Doherty and Nick Lucena who won the silver medal!
Fun facts about the win in Berlin:
First time in FIVB history that all three medalists came from the qualifier.
First USA-USA gold medal match since Shanghai Grand Slam May 6, 2012 (Dalhausser / Rogers beat Gibb / Rosenthal)
First FIVB semifinal for three of the four USA players (only Lucena had been in a semifinal previously)
John Hyden becomes oldest winner of an FIVB Open event ever (was Franco Neto in 2007 at age 40 years 8 months)
In winning the title, Bourne and Hyden defeated the team which had won the previous FIVB event, twice beat Emanuel (five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist) and defeated 2012 Olympians Fijalek and Prudel from Poland… on the flip side though, they only had to play one team seeded in the top 10 the entire tournament.
Bourne and Hyden went 16-1 in sets this week and held opponents to 15.6 points per set
The next FIVB event is taking place this week in Stavanger, Norway. Good luck to all the USA teams playing!