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Thursday, September 21
Field gets tough for U.S. women
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- It wasn't easy and they did it
differently, but both U.S. women's teams made it to the Olympic
beach volleyball quarterfinals.
Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis rallied back from early
deficits with a nine-point run to defeat Cuba's Dalixia Fernandez
and Tamara Larrea 15-9, while Holly McPeak and Misty May almost
squandered a five-point lead and needed seven match points to
finally subdue Daniella Gattelli and Lucilla Perrotta of Italy
15-13.
The victories Thursday advanced the tournaments third- and
fourth-seeded teams to the final eight, where stiff competition
awaits Saturday.
Jordan and Davis will face the sixth-seeded Japanese team of
Yukiko Takahashi and Teru Saiki, who outclassed a Czech team in a
15-2 victory. May and McPeak take on Brazil's fifth-seeded Adriana
Samuel and Sandra Pires, 15-6 victors over Maria Schuller and Ana
Pereira of Portugal.
Pires and Samuel both won medals with different partners -- gold
for Pires, silver for Samuel -- at the inaugural Olympic beach
volleyball competition in Atlanta four years ago.
McPeak, another veteran of Atlanta, said she and May must play
better to defeat the Brazilians. A four-day break between their
opening match Saturday and the second-round on Thursday may have
contributed to a game in which, after the first few minutes, "I
can't say we did anything well," McPeak said.
It was the opposite for Jordan and Davis, who started
tentatively to fall behind 6-2 before mounting a comeback. They
were cheered on by a sellout crowd at Bondi Beach that included
first daughter Chelsea Clinton and Rafer Johnson, the 1960 Olympic
decathlon champion and Jordan's father.
Shortly after a "U.S.A." chant first sounded, Jordan and Davis
became more aggressive, blasting aces and taking control at the
net. Cuba led 9-6 after 23 minutes, and then the Americans took
over, forcing the Cubans into errors in running off nine straight
points, the last a Jordan slam to end the match.
"I don't know exactly what happened," Jordan said. "For me,
it was just going for it, to stop being tentative. I was being
aggressive but not smart. I started trying to be aggressive and
smart."
In the stands, her father said the tough first-round match for
Jordan and Davis -- a 15-13 victory over an Australian team in front
of a screaming crowd -- prepared them for the adversity they faced
early against the Cubans.
"That's what it's all about," Johnson said. "I really believe
that any team here can beat any other team. You need a little good
fortune, a good bounce here and there."
Larrea said she and Fernandez were excited to hold a 9-6 lead,
but were unable to handle the Americans after that.
"Once the score got equal (at 9-9), then things got tough,"
she said through an interpreter. "These two American girls played
very well."
Asked if playing the Americans had any special significance,
Fernandez said she was an athlete, not a politician.
"The political situation has nothing to do with it," she said.
"We are sportswomen. Our aim is competing to win. Perhaps we
needed an extra push in the last match today."
After a morning of scattered clouds and rain showers -- the first
session of the tournament without sunny beach weather -- the skies
cleared for May and McPeak's match. They jumped out to leads of
2-0, 8-5 and 12-7 before the Italians fought back behind Perrotta's
strong serving to 13-11.
McPeak then blocked Gattelli to make it 14-11, but a Perrotta
ace and desperate lunge shot out of the reach of McPeak made it
14-13. Only on their seventh serve for the match did McPeak and May
get the final point, with May slamming a winner.
"They actually came out and played the game we wanted to play.
They served well and stayed aggressive," McPeak said of the
Italians. "I was too anxious on my approach, making errors I don't
usually make."
In other matches, sixth-seeded Takahashi and Saiki served seven
aces in their victory over Sona Dosoudilova and Eva Celbova of the
Czech Republic to set up the quarterfinal date with Jordan and
Davis.
Laura Bruschini and Annamaria Solazzi of Italy extended their
perfect record against Germany's Ulrike Schmidt and Gudula Staub by
jumping to a 10-1 lead and holding off a persistent comeback for a
15-12 victory.
Australia's Tania Gooley and Pauline Manser swamped Anabelle
Prawerman and Cecile Rigaux of France, 15-3, while Brazil's Adriana
Behar and Shelda Bede ousted Maike Friedrichsen and Danja Musch of
Germany 15-9 and defending bronze medalists Natalie Cook and Kerri
Pottharst of Australia thumped China's Zi Xiong and Rong Chi 15-2.
The men's competition for quarterfinal berths is Friday.
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