Todd Rogers Photo: Ed Chan

Sean Scott Photo: Ken Delgado

Scott Davenport Photo: AVP

Carl Henkel Photo: AVP

The FIVB men's season opener features a "new" format with the 32 teams in the Main Draw competing initially in eight pools of four teams each. The top two teams from each of eight pools then advance to the 16-team single-elimination bracket that has two rounds Saturday. The semifinals and medal rounds will be played Sunday with the winning team sharing the $22,500 first-place prize.

While the 11th-seeded Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and Scott (San Diego, Calif.) were competing in Pool F Friday, Scott Davenport (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Carl Henkel (Redondo Beach, Calif.) of the United States dropped both of their matches in Pool D as the 29th-seeded team.

Rogers and Scott, playing in their second FIVB event together after placing ninth last December in Vitoria, Brazil, opened Friday's play with a 21-16 and 21-14 win over 27th-seeded Max Backer and Gijis Ronnes of the Netherlands. Playing in front of an enthusiastic and partisan crowd, Rogers and Scott then dropped a 21-18, 19-21 and 15-10 decision to sixth-seeded Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann of Germany to end Friday's play.

Needing either a win or a better set/point ratio over the teams from the Netherlands and Russia to advance to the 16-team elimination rounds of the Main Draw, Rogers and Scott conclude pool play Saturday morning against 22nd-seeded Dmitri Barsouk and Mikhail Kouchnerev of Russia, who are 0-2 in Pool F.

Davenport and Henkel, who are playing in their first pro beach event together, dropped Friday pool play matches to 13th-seeded Bjorn Berg and Simon Dahl of Sweden (21-19 and 21-19 ) and 20th-seeded Markus Egger and Sascha Heyer of Switzerland (21-15 and 21-10).

Davenport and Henkel will challenge fourth-seeded Roberto Lopes and Franco Neto of Brazil Saturday morning. The Brazilians won both of their Pool D matches Friday. Davenport and Henkel will need to upset the Roberto Lopes and Franco and hope to end with a better set/point ratio than the teams from Sweden and Switzerland.

Friday's biggest "surprise" was in Pool A where top-seeded Jose Loiola and Ricardo Santos dropped a pair of matches to 16th-seeded Joćo Brenha and Luis Maia of Portugal (25-23 and 21-19) and 17th-seeded Nikolas Berger and Clemens Doppler of Austria (21-19 and 21-19). Loiola and Ricardo now must win their match against 32nd-seeded Christoph Diekmann and Andreas Scheurerpflug and Germany and hopes to finish with a better set or point ratio than Berger and Doppler.

The FIVB launched its women's pro beach volleyball tour last week in Madrid, Spain. May (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.) of the United States captured the women's opener by defeating Ana Paula Connelly and Tatiana Minello of Brazil for the Gold Medal with a 23-21 and 21-14 title win in 35 minutes.

NOTES - The Berlin stop was without last season's top-ranked players, the Brazilian team of Emanuel Rego and Tande Ramos, who is reported to be suffering from an ear disorder that can cause dizziness and loss of balance. Also on the injured list, reportedly with abdominal strain, is American Dain Blanton, the Olympic Champion from Sydney 2000. Blanton's partner Carl Henkel is now teamed with Scott Davenport for the Berlin event. The Swiss brothers Paul and Martin Laciga, who have been twice second here in Berlin, are also in doubt after Martin turned his ankle during training on Sunday. Australian Jarrod Novosel, who partners with Josh Slack, was forced to withdraw from the German event with a knee injury. Slack is now teamed with former partner Andrew Schacht for the tournament.

Individual Match Results and Schedule
Tournament Results

~ Tim Simmons