By B.J. Hoeptner Evans

[ Check Out Stunning Pictures from the Opening Ceremony ]

The U.S. women's beach volleyball team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, seeded No. 3, lost their first Olympic set as a team, but still closed out pool play with a 17-21, 21-8, 15-10 win over Austria's No. 15 Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger (0-2) on Wednesday at the Horse Guards Parade venue.

May-Treanor (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Walsh (San Jose, Calif.) are the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists and win Pool B with a 3-0 record. Including London, Beijing and Athens, they had won 32 straight sets in the Olympic Games before losing the first set on Wednesday.

"Obviously we wanted to win in two straight sets," May-Treanor said. "But a victory is a victory and I'm proud with how we came out that second set and carried on."

They must wait until the end of play on Thursday to find out whom they will face in the first round of single elimination on Friday.

May-Treanor and Walsh led Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger in attacks (30-26) with May-Treanor totaling 19 kills. Doris Schwaiger led in kills with 21. The U.S. team led in aces 4-3 with Walsh totaling three. Stefanie Schwaiger and Walsh each had four blocks.

The U.S. women led in dig, 31-26. May-Treanor had 24 digs.

"We came out a little bit flat and you never want to come out flat in Olympic competition, or any competition," Walsh said. "So that was all on us. I think we put ourselves in a good position to come back and win game 1. So we just didn't seal the deal because we weren't crisp in game 1."

Austria jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set as Stefanie Schwaiger kept up the pressure at the net. The U.S. team called timeout and Walsh came back with a kill followed by two straight Austrian errors that cut Austria's lead to 7-4. With Austria leading 14-9, the U.S. scored twice on plays that Austria could not return and Austrian called timeout. Walsh scored again with an ace, but Doris Schwaiger answered with a kill and Stefanie added an ace to keep the Austrians well in front. Austria scored the final three points of the set.

The score was tied at 3-3 in the second set when Austria hit the ball out. That sparked a 4-0 run for May-Treanor and Walsh, including an ace by Walsh. Later, the U.S. pair was leading 12-7 when May-Treanor scored with a kill and set off a 7-0 run from which the Austrians never recovered.

The score of the tie-breaker was tied 5-5 when the U.S. team scored twice on a kill and Austrian error to take a lead that it never relinquished.

In women's beach volleyball action on Thursday, No. 4 Jennifer Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and April Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will go for the pool victory against No. 16 Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan of Spain (2-0).

 

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

 

 

 

Olympic Beach Volleyball: May-Treanor, Walsh Win in 3