Nicholas Lucena (born September 22, 1979) is an American retired professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two to four players each on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side o ...

player. Lucena grew up in

Davie, Florida Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 census, making it the largest town in Florida by population. Davie is a principal town of the Miami metropol ...

and played indoor volleyball at Western High School. In his youth, he played beach volleyball at Fort Lauderdale Beach. He then went to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, where he graduated before embarking on his beach volleyball career. Lucena and his former teammate,

Phil Dalhausser Philip Peter Dalhausser (born January 26, 1980) is an American former professional beach volleyball player, who played as a blocker. He and his former playing partner, Todd Rogers, were the 2007 AVP Tour and FIVB world champions. Dalhausser ...

, played in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Lucena played as a defender behind Dalhausser's block. Lucena and Dalhausser had qualified to represent the United States at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, but did not place. In his career, Lucena won 29 tournaments and $1,400,000 in prize money.

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* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucena, Nick 1979 births Living people American men's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players for the United States Beach volleyball defenders Sportspeople from Broward County, Florida Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century American sportsmen