Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, the 2008 Olympic men’s beach volleyball gold medalists, swept their two matches Friday and easily advanced in the first round of the AVP Crocs Tour Riverside Open presented by the Riverside Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

Top-seeded Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh – also 2008 Beijing Olympians – advanced easily in the women’s bracket, sweeping their two Friday matches. 

Both Dalhausser/Rogers and Youngs/Branagh won the AVP Crocs Tour’s season-opening tournament last month in Panama City Beach, Fla. 

Rogers and Dalhausser eased past Danko Iordanov and Monte Tucker, seeded 32nd, 21-11, 21-11. They dispatched No. 16 seeds Billy Allen and Braidy Halverson, 21-14, 21-13. 

Young and Branagh beat 32nd-seeded Meri-de Boyer and Iwona Lodzik, 21-17, 21-16, and defeated No. 16 seeds Saralyn Smith and Beth Van Fleet, 21-17, 21-10. 

The Riverside Open, which marks the AVP Tour’s first-ever tournament in Southern California’s Inland Empire, continues Saturday, with the men’s and women’s finals scheduled for Sunday. Saturday’s play will also include the beach volleyball Collegiate Nationals, which will start at 8:30 a.m. Collegiate semifinals and finals will be held on the AVP’s Stadium Court. 

Tickets are available at avp.com and on site at the box office. Tickets start at $20 for General Admission and go up to $40 for courtside seating. For more information about the AVP Crocs Tour, please visit www.avp.com.