Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena defeated Canadians Sam Schachter and Sam Pedlow in straight sets in the gold medal match of the 2017 World Series of Beach Volleyball in Long Beach, CA, on Sunday, marking the Americans' third podium-topping finish of the season and their biggest payday in more than a year.

The World Series was a U.S. versus the world exhibition event, so the American teams were kept separate from the international pairs until Dalhausser and Lucena's 21-18, 21-15 victory in the final, playing in separate pools and on opposite halves of the bracket.

Dalhausser and Lucena, who are currently ranked No. 1 in the world, took down Theo Brunner and Casey Patterson in the U.S. semifinals 21-11, 21-19. These two teams have now played each other four times in 2017 (not counting a forfeit by Lucena and Dalhausser in the AVP New York City Open when Lucena's wife went into labor), and Lucena and Dalhausser have won all four of those meetings.

Schachter and Pedlow made it to the championship match thanks to a semifinal victory over Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losaik of Poland. The Canadian pair's second-place finish marks Pedlow's career best and matches the previous top performance by Schachter on the FIVB tour.

In the bronze medal match, Brunner and Patterson won the first set, but the Polish pair rebounded for a 20-22, 21-15, 15-13 victory.

Dalhausser and Lucena walked away with the $50,000 top prize. The Canadians claimed $30,00 for second place, and Kantor and Losiak split $14,000.

Almost all of the teams that competed in Long Beach headed immediately to Olsztyn, Poland, for this week's four-star event, which begins July 19.