- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com
By B.J. Hoeptner Evans
The U.S. men's beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal defeated No. 22 Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev of Russia, 21-14, 22-20 on Saturday in the first round of single elimination in the Olympic tournament at Horse Guards Parade.
Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who are seeded No. 4 in the tournament and are competing in their second Olympic Games after finishing fifth in Beijing, will play Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia (No. 17) in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. PT) on Aug. 6.
Gibb and Rosenthal improve their record to 3-1. Sememov and Prokopiev finish the Olympics at 2-2.
Gibb and Rosenthal led the match in kills (29-22) led by Gibb with 16. They also finished with a 4-3 led in blocks and 25-20 in digs.
Rosenthal said the team had trouble with Serguei Prokopiev, who is nearly 7 feet tall.
"We knew (Semenov) was big at the net and I really showed everybody that he was that big," Rosenthal said.
Gibb said the team tried to play the net aggressively.
"We had a good game plan just coming out and being aggressive with our setting and I guess it paid off in the first set," he said.
Gibb and Rosenthal led 5-4 in the first set when Rosenthal scored on an attack followed by a Gibb block and Rosenthal attack to lead 8-4. Russia was never able to get closer than two points.
The next set stayed closer as the teams battled. Gibb and Rosenthal played to an 8-4 lead, including three Gibb attacks, two from Rosenthal and two blocks. Russia came back to pull itself to within one point at 10-9. Russia tied the score at 13-13 and went on to lead by as many as two points at 15-13 and later at 18-16. Gibb and Rosenthal used two straight Rosenthal attacks to tie the score at 18-18. Gibb and Rosenthal reached match point first at 20-19, but Prokopiev answered with a kill. However two straight Russian errors gave Gibb and Rosenthal the match victory.
Originally published by USA Volleyball (http://www.teamusa.org)
Gibb and Rosenthal Chart Win over Russia in Men's Beach Volleyball