The U.S. women's beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross set the stage for an all-American Olympic gold medal match on Wednesday by upsetting Brazil's No. 1 Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12 in the semifinals on Tuesday at Horse Guards Parade.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) are first-time Olympians and seeded No. 4 in the tournament. On Wednesday, they will play their compatriots, the U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (San Jose, Calif.), seeded No. 3, in the gold medal match at 9 p.m. local time (1 p.m. PT).

May-Treanor and Walsh defeated China's No. 2 Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in Tuesday's first semifinal match, 22-20, 22-20.

"It hasn't sunk in," Ross said. "I obviously understand that I'm going to be playing in that match tomorrow. I'm just so proud that we were able to do this for USA Beach Volleyball. Misty and Kerri had a big challenge against the Chinese and they overcame it. This was a super challenging match and we overcame it.

"I'm just really happy that we can be a part of this. I think this is awesome for beach volleyball in the United States."

Franca and Silva (5-1), who had not lost a set in London going into Tuesday's match, will play Xue and Zhang (4-2) for the bronze medal at 7 p.m. local time (11 a.m. PT).

The two U.S. teams have played each other 32 times in both domestic and international competition, with May-Treanor and Walsh leading the series 27-5.

"I gave Misty a hug before the game and said, 'Congratulations,'" Kessy said. "She said, 'Good luck and I want to see you tomorrow.'"

Kessy and Ross endured a light but steady rain while coming back from a first-set loss to beat the Brazilians, who are the defending world champions. Kessy and Ross had lost to Franca and Silva the last nine times they have played and went into the match with a 4-19 overall record against the Brazilian side.

Ross said the team went into Tuesday's match with a different strategy.

"Our coach Jeff Conover did a lot of scouting and we watched every single video from here that they've played," Ross said "We came up with the idea of serving Larissa more. From a strategy perspective I think that is different than before."

Kessy also gave credit to gum, which she started chewing when her team was down 8-6 in the second set.

"I went to get (chewing) gum because I forgot my gum," Kessy said. "I always play with gum."

Kessy and Ross led the Brazilian team in attacks (38-36) with Ross scoring on 20 and Kessy on 18. Kessy also had the only three blocks of the match. Brazil led in aces, 4-2 (Ross had both digs for the U.S.) and the teams tied in digs 17-17, with Ross leading the way with 12.

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 two teams were tied at 11-11 in the first set when Brazil scored on a Silva kill and two straight Franca aces that hit the net and dropped. Ross scored on an attack, but Brazil scored on two more Franca attacks to lead 16-12. Brazil reached set point at 20-14 on a Silva attack. Kessy scored with a kill but Silva won the set with a final strike.

The teams were tied 6-6 in the second set when Brazil scored twice on a Franca attack and U.S. error and the U.S. called timeout for Kessy to get her gum. Brazil increased its lead to three at 9-6 and to four at 11-7. Brazil was leading 12-8 when the U.S. came back with two straight Kessy kills. With Brazil leading 14-11, Ross scored on an attack followed by an ace and another kill to tie the score at 14-14. With the score still tied 15-15, Kessy blocked Franca twice in a row to give the U.S. a 17-15 lead. Brazil eventually tied the score at 19-19, but the U.S. reached set point on a Kessy kill and won the set with a Ross attack.

The U.S. team took a 5-3 lead in the third set. Brazil scored on a U.S. error and Franca attack to tie the score, but the U.S. came back with a Ross kill and a point on Brazil's error to lead 7-5. The U.S. increased its lead to three at 10-7, but Brazil pulled to within one point at 10-9. With the U.S. leading 11-10, Brazil suffered a hitting error followed by a Ross kill and ace to give the U.S. match point at 14-10. Brazil came back with a Franca attack and ace to pull to within two and the U.S. called timeout. Kessy scored on a final kill to give the U.S. the victory.

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

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