The Latvians recorded their second victory against the Americans in as many games

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Tocs battles with Dalhausser at the net

Few beach volleyball teams can brag about having a positive record against USA’s Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, let alone being undefeated against them. Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs check both boxes as the Latvians downed the Americans to top the pool A of the A1 Major Vienna presented by Swatch.

After a three-set battle against a Swiss team in the morning and a two-year delay following heavy rain that hit the Austrian capital, Plavins and Tocs had a dominant performance against the Americans, scoring a 21-16, 21-18 victory in one of the side courts at the Danube Island.

“We had a good control of the game,” Tocs said. “We didn’t make many mistakes and overall we played well. We lost our focus a little bit in the second and they were a little more aggressive on serving, but we got back together and managed to win.”

It was the second time the Latvians beat Lucena and Dalhausser following a victory in the four-star Huntington Beach World Tour event back in May. To Tocs, the underdog position can help the Latvians to have a good finish in Vienna this week.

“I like playing these kinds of games against the favorite teams,” the 29-year-old blocker added. “Just being a lower-seeded guy, who used to play qualification, I don’t feel any pressure and I play more freely. We just want to keep playing every match the best we can and we’ll see how far it will take us.”

With the weather delay, just four of the eight pools had all of its matches concluded. Besides of Plavins and Tocs, the other duos to top their pools were USA's Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb, the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Russia’s Nikita Liamin and Viacheslav Krasilnikov.

The men’s tournament continues on Friday at 10.30am CST. The schedule is available here.