U.S. Women Win 3rd Volleyball Gold
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LONDON (Aug. 8, 2012) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their third straight Olympic Games gold medal on Wednesday, defeating compatriots Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, 21-16, 21-16 in 36 minutes at Horse Guards Parade.
May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), who won gold medals in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 and were seeded No. 3 in London, finish the tournament at 7-0 (21-0 in Olympic matches going back to Athens and 42-1 in Olympic sets). Kessy and Ross (No. 4) finish their first Olympic Games with a silver medal and a 6-1 record.
“A big reason Misty and I are gold medalists is because of those two girls,” Walsh said of Kessy and Ross. “They are one of my favorite teams to beat because they are so good. It’s an honor to share the podium with them. They drive me crazy on the court.”
“I still feel like somebody pinch me that this just happened,” said May-Treanor, who
has said she plans to retire after the Olympic Games. “We’ve been walking around the stadium saying it feels like an out-of-body experience.
“This was about the experience, the friendship, the journey and volleyball was just a small part of it.”
With May-Treanor and Walsh’s victory, the United States continues its streak of having at least one gold medalist in beach volleyball since its introduction in 1996. The United States has earned at least one volleyball medal, either indoor or beach, in every Olympics since 1984.
May-Treanor and Walsh become the first women to win three Olympic medals in beach volleyball and the first players of either gender to win three beach volleyball gold medals
On Wednesday, May-Treanor and Walsh led in attacks (27-22), blocks (17-9) and digs (17-9). The two teams tied in aces (2-2).
May-Treanor led in attacks with 16. Kessy had 14 for her team. Walsh had three blocks while Kessy had two. May-Treanor finished with 15 digs.
“We’re really proud of what we did here,” Ross said. “I’m so proud of how we fought. We just didn’t have that same opportunity in this match. They didn’t let us back in. Kudos to them.
“We expected a battle and it wasn’t the battle we thought it was going to be.”
“They made us make great shots to go down; mediocre shots were not going to go down,” Kessy said. “They played really well. It was just a bummer to lose the last time we are ever going to play against them.”
The teams battled back and forth in the first set and were tied at 13-13 when Kessy and Ross had an error followed by a May-Treanor attack to lead 15-13. Kessy came back with a kill, but May-Treanor and Walsh scored the next four points on a May-Treanor attack and an ace, kill and block by Walsh to lead 19-14. Kessy and Ross could only manage two more points before May-Treanor won the set for her side with a kill.
The teams battled to a 9-9 tie in the second set. May-Treanor and Walsh took a two-point lead on two straight hitting errors by Kessy and Ross. May-Treanor and Ross increased their lead to three at 14-11. Kessy and Ross pulled back to within one point at 15-14, but their next serve went out and Walsh followed with an ace to increase the lead to three. A dig that went into the net made it a four-point lead and Kessy and Ross couldn’t respond. May-Treanor and Walsh reached match point on a block by Walsh. Kessy scored on a kill before Ross served into the net to end the match.
The last time the U.S. had two teams in the Olympic beach finals was at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta where Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes advanced as did the U.S. team of Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh. Kiraly and Steffes went on to win the gold.
The only time the U.S. has won more than one medal in an Olympic women’s beach volleyball tournament was in 2004 in Athens when May-Treanor and Walsh took the gold and the U.S. team of Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak won the bronze.
The last time two women’s teams from the same country squared off for the gold medal was in 1996, when Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva of Brazil defeated their countrywomen Mônica Rodrigues and Adriana Samuel.
