By B.J. Hoeptner Evans

The U.S. women's beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, defeated No. 9 Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of Netherlands, 21-13, 21-12 in 30 minutes on Saturday in the first round of elimination in the Olympic tournament at Horse Guards Parade.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists, advance with a record of 4-0. They will play Italy's No. 7 Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. PT) on Sunday.

The U.S. women's team of Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), seeded No. 4, will face No. 10 Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 10 p.m. (2 p.m. PT).

Van Iersel and Keizer finish the Olympic Games at 1-3.

"It's so nice to come in, go to work and get the heck out of here to rest and prepare for the next match," Walsh said. "Misty was a rock star tonight. I can't wait to watch film because she was everywhere. It was like nine Mistys out there."

May-Treanor and Walsh led in attacks (22-18) led by May-Treanor with 16. The U.S. team led in blocks (4-0), with Walsh tallying four. The Netherlands had two aces while May-Treanor had one. May-Treanor had 11 of the team's 14 digs. Netherlands had 13 digs.

May-Treanor and Walsh took advantage of 15 team errors by the Netherlands while committing only five.

"This is the Kerri and Misty that people come to see that we want to play like," May-Treanor added. "We just keep elevating each match we're out there."

May-Treanor and Walsh led 5-4 in the first set when Walsh scored on an attack and block to increase the lead to 7-4. Netherlands scored on a U.S. service error, but the U.S. came back to score three more points to lead 10-5. The Netherlands team never threatened again. The U.S. reached set point at 20-12. Netherlands scored once more on an attack before May-Treanor won it with a kill.

The U.S. was leading 6-5 in the second set when it scored on a May-Treanor attack and Netherlands error. An U.S. error gave Netherlands a point, but a Walsh kill followed by a May-Treanor attack put the U.S. team up by four at 10-6. The U.S. was leading 15-11 when it used a 4-0 scoring run to lead 19-11. It reached match point at 20-12 and May-Treanor won the match with an attack.

 

Originally published by USA Volleyball (http://www.teamusa.org)

 

 

May-Treanor and Walsh Continue to Dominate in Women's Beach Volleyball