Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross Eliminate Australia To Advance To Volleyball Semifinals

Team USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross defeated Australia’s Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy in straight sets, 21-14, 21-16, on Sunday night at the Volleyball Arena at Copacabana Beach in Rio di Janeiro.

Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross Eliminate Australia To Advance To Volleyball Semifinals

The American pair will now advance to the semifinals of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament, after a victory that came one day before Jennings’ 38th birthday.

Walsh Jennings and Ross are now 5-0, losing only one set in their quest for gold in Rio. They will next face the reigning world champions, Brazilians Agatha and Barbara in the semifinals. The American duo entered the Rio Games ranked No. 3 in the world by FIVB. Agatha and Barbara entered as the No. 2 ranked team.

On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Brazilian pair Larissa and Talita will be facing Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst. Larrisa/Talita narrowly topped 17th-seeded Heidrich/Zumkehr of Switzerland 21-23, 27-25, 15-13 to progress to the semifinals.

The match began strongly for the Americans, who capitalized on several unforced errors to gain an early lead. The most incredible point of the first set came when the score was 10-9 in favor of the Americans. An Australian spike was blocked by Ross, but it flew well out of bounds onto the other side of the court. Walsh Jennings ducked under the net, picked the ball out, and hit it back to Ross, who managed to safely bump it over. Walsh Jennings then blocked a spike to secure the point.

“It was a great dig (from April), and you know, there was plenty of time,” said Walsh Jennings. “It wasn’t even that hard, it was just a unique play.”

Ross described the point more succinctly: “That was rad.”

Shortly afterwards, Team USA basketball players Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan and Jimmy Butler appeared on the big screen and began a “U-S-A!” chant for the fans in attendance.

Ross and Walsh Jennings were both excited by the NBA stars’ presence.

“I actually didn’t notice them until I heard them cheering in the middle of rallies,” said Ross. “I was like ‘Oh, hey, look who’s over here.’ And they really fired me up when I heard them cheering for us.

“That’s one of the biggest things I love about the Olympics. We’re all Team USA and we all support each other.”

After winning the first set 21-14, the Americans came out strong again in the second, exchanging points with the Australians, who seemed to settle down and find their footing. Then in the middle of the set, a few Walsh Jennings blocks– and some unforced Australian errors– gave Walsh Jennings and Ross a 17-12 lead. Clancy and Bawden fought hard, but it seemed nearly impossible for them to win. The US pair closed it out, the most exciting point a wild back-and-forth rally that required several diving digs from both Ross and Walsh Jennings. They finally won the set 21-16, and following the match, the emcees led the entire stadium in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to Walsh Jennings.

“I don’t think so,” said Walsh Jennings when asked if she’d ever been serenaded by an entire stadium. “I’ve had other birthdays during the Olympics, but I don’t think I have.”

Agatha and Barbara booked their way to the semis in straight sets over Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova. Though they trailed early in the first set, they were buoyed by the jubilant — and extremely loud — crowd, and rallied back to take the set 23-21.

In the second set, the Brazilians took over, confounding the Russian pair with crafty shots at the net and excellent defense. They jumped out to a lead and then put the match away, winning 21-16.

“They had to fight,” said Walsh Jennings. “They fought off a lot of set points in Game 1, and they had the crowd fully behind them, but what I noticed is that when they’re down, the crowd goes away.”

Her and Ross have faced multiple questions about the two top-ranked Brazilian pairs in women’s volleyball since the beginning of the tournament, and have deftly responded to all of those questions the same way every time: repeating that they are simply taking it one match at a time.

The men’s quarterfinal round will take place on Aug. 15 followed by the women’s semifinals on Aug. 16.

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 14: Kerri Walsh Jennings (R) of United States celebrates with teammate April Ross after defeating Australia in a Women’s Quarterfinal match on Day 9 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Beach Volleyball Arena on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)