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Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross advance to set up marquee semifinal match

RIO DE JANEIRO — Kerri Walsh Jennings got her birthday wish — the marquee semifinal showdown everyone has been waiting for.

April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings celebrate against Australia. (Photo: Kevin Jairaj, USA TODAY Sports)

RIO DE JANEIRO — Kerri Walsh Jennings got her birthday wish — the marquee semifinal showdown everyone has been waiting for.

Defending gold medalist Walsh Jennings and her playing partner of three years, April Ross, won their quarterfinal match early Monday morning in the stadium at Copacabana Beach, beating Australia’s Taliqua Clancy and Louise Bawden in straight sets. They did so in a match that began at midnight in Copacabana, which happened to be the first minute of Walsh Jennings' 38th birthday.

The two will meet reigning world champions Agatha and Barbara in the semifinal, a showdown the volleyball world has been waiting for. Walsh Jennings and Ross entered the Olympics ranked No. 3 in the world by FIVB. Agatha and Barbara entered as the No. 2 ranked team.

The No. 1 ranked team, Larissa and Talita of Brazil, will take on Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in the other semifinal.

The match started out strongly for the Americans, who capitalized on several unforced errors to jump to an early lead. The most stunning point of the first set came when the score was 10-9 in favor of the Americans. An Australian spike was blocked by Ross, but it sailed way out of bounds onto the other side of the court. Walsh Jennings ducked under the net, picked the ball out of the night sky, and launched it back to Ross, who was able to safely bump it over. Walsh Jennings then blocked a spike to win the point.

Moments later, Team USA basketball members Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan and Jimmy Butler were put on the big screen and started a “U-S-A” chant for the fans in attendance.

After clinching the first set 21-14, the Americans came out in the second strong again, trading points with the Australians, who had appeared to settle down and find their footing. The two teams kept it close until the middle of the set, when a few Walsh Jennings blocks — and some unforced Australian errors — gave the Americans a 17-12 lead. Clancy and Bawden fought gamely, but they’d dug themselves too deep a hole. The Americans closed it out, the most thrilling point a wild back-and-forth rally that required multiple diving digs from both Ross and Walsh Jennings. They won the set 21-16 and booked their semifinal date with the reigning world champs from Brazil.

At the beginning of the tournament, it felt like all the matches were just a precursor to the inevitable showdown between the Brazilians and the Americans. Walsh Jennings and Ross have faced questions about those two top-ranked Brazilian teams since the first match of the tournament, and have done their best to deflect those questions — repeating again and again that they are taking it one match at a time. But this match seemed destined, preordained, and not only because both pairs have been so dominant.

From the opening match, when the raucous Brazilian crowd turned on the American team, chanting “ZIKA!” at them, it seemed like there could be no other outcome than a match under the lights at Copacabana Beach, the reigning world champs and the defending gold medalist, head-to-head for it all.

Agatha and Barbara booked their way to the semis in straight sets over Russia’s Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova. Though they trailed early in the first set, they were buoyed by the jubilant — and extremely loud — crowd, and rallied back to take the set 23-21.

In the second set, the Brazilians took over, confounding the Russian pair with crafty shots at the net and excellent defense. They jumped out to a lead and then put the match away, winning 21-16.

For the 38-year-old Walsh Jennings and 34-year-old Ross, the Brazilian duo present unique challenges. Barbara is an excellent server of the ball, hitting a hard-struck, flat serve with no spin that can knuckle, dip and swerve. (Aside from her fellow Brazilian Larissa, no one has had a more devastating serve at this Olympics.) She’s also one of the few top volleyball players who is left-handed, which she loves to use to her advantage, especially at the net, when she can appear to set up for a right-handed spike, then slip the ball over the net with her left.

Both Barbara and Agatha have creativity around the net that not many teams around the world do. While Walsh Jennings turns to her power when she gets in trouble in a set, the Brazilians are more likely to rely on guile, favoring drop shots, floaters, and low-angle touches to find the weak spots in an opponent’s defense.

While the game plans may be up in the air, what isn’t in doubt is that the Brazilian crowd will show up for this match in a serious way. Beach volleyball is a major sport in Brazil, Rio especially, and Copacabana Beach is its spiritual home here. The fans will turn out in droves, and they will be loud.

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