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Kerri Walsh Jennings puts blame for Olympic semifinal loss on herself

After her first beach volleyball loss in four Olympic Games, Kerri Walsh Jennings blamed herself.

<p><span class="cutline js-caption" style="display: block; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902);">Kerri Walsh Jennings reacts during a semifinal loss.</span><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902);">(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Sports)</span></p>

After her first beach volleyball loss in four Olympic Games, Kerri Walsh Jennings blamed herself.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist was aced more frequently than she’s used to, and struggled throughout Wednesday morning’s semifinal against Brazil as the Brazilian duo of Agatha and Barbara continued to target her.

When asked to evaluate her individual performance after the 22-20, 21-18 straight-set loss, Walsh Jennings said, “Rocky.”

“You’ve got to pass the ball to win matches,” she said. I don’t even know how many aces they got — four per game, maybe, on me? That’s unacceptable and inexcusable. I’ve been served aggressively this whole tournament, when people serve at me, and so has April (Ross). We’ve handled it in every other situation so it is really disappointing and heartbreaking to not do that tonight.

“You can’t do anything without a pass. That’s what set the tone. We never got our mojo after that, and that’s why.”

Walsh Jennings overestimated the amount of aces — the Brazilians only had five total in the match — but she clearly felt her return game was a major deciding factor in the outcome.

And she said the Brazilians “should” have picked on her because she wasn’t playing well.

“It’s because I wasn’t passing the ball,” Walsh Jennings said. “I wasn’t passing the ball. If you see a weakness, you go after it. My weakness was I wasn’t passing the ball. … Tonight they rose to the occasion. I certainly did not, and there’s no excuse for it.”

Walsh Jennings and Ross will take on Brazil’s other team, Larissa and Talita, in Wednesday evening’s bronze medal match.

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