RIO DE JANEIRO — It was the middle of the second set of the beach volleyball bronze medal match at Copacabana Beach on Wednesday night, and Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross looked done.
Down a set and trailing by three to Larissa and Talita of Brazil, it appeared that not only would Walsh Jennings’ gold medal streak be over — she had won three consecutive golds before falling in the semifinal of this Olympics — it looked like the Americans wouldn’t be on the podium at all.
The Americans wouldn’t go down like that. Walsh Jennings and Ross fought their way back, won the set, and then took the Brazilians down in a thrilling third to capture the bronze medal.
The night required a quick mental and emotional rebound for the Americans. They had played in a semifinal earlier that morning, in a match that started just after midnight on Wednesday. It was the very first loss in Walsh Jennings’ long Olympic career, and 22 hours later, she was back on the court, still with a medal to fight for.
The match began much as the semifinal match began, with the Brazilian team repeatedly targeting Walsh Jennings with their serves. Unlike in the semifinal, Walsh Jennings looked confident, handling her passes and repeatedly hitting spikes for winners. That confidence wavered slightly when Larissa caught Walsh Jennings with a knuckling serve for an ace, but the Americans rallied back and kept the set even.
Late in the first, the Brazilians’ tactics appeared to get to Walsh Jennings. After several clever shots by Talita at net, the American blocker started backing off on blocks, wavering on spikes, and overthinking her own attacks at net. In a particularly bad stretch, the Brazilians leapt out to a lead they wouldn’t surrender, winning the set 21-17.
The second set was a much tighter affair, but the Americans continued to struggle with the Brazilians’ creativity at net. They also stumbled with some unforced errors, including a missed serve from Ross and one memorable play that saw both Americans go for the same serve, collide, and fall to the ground as the Brazilian crowd cheered. It was then the Americans were down three, and appeared out of it.
They fought back. As a small section of fans chanted “U S A,” Walsh Jennings and Ross ripped off several points in a row, erasing a 3-point deficit and taking a 3-point lead of their own. You could see the confidence increasing with every block at net, every winner spiked to the sand. They won the set, 21-17, and it would all come down to the third.
With the American and Brazilian fans trading chants back and forth, Team USA came out hot, buoyed by stellar play by Walsh Jennings at net, who looked like a different player. Her counterpart Talita was suddenly the one looking out of sorts at net, unsure what to do after several massive blocks by Walsh Jennings.
From there, Ross took over. She covered an insane amount of ground in the third, reaching shot after shot and hitting several smashed winners of her own. The Brazilians had no answer, and after another Walsh Jennings block, it was match point to the Americans. One more block from Walsh Jennings, and the Americans had captured the bronze.
Many assumed before the Olympics began that these two teams would meet in the gold medal match. Larissa and Talita entered the tournament as the No. 1 ranked team in the world by FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball). Walsh Jennings had three consecutive gold medals and her partner, Ross, had won silver at London 2012.
But the Brazilian duo was surprised by Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in the semifinal, getting beaten soundly in straight sets, and then later that night the Americans also fell, to Brazil’s younger team of Agatha and Barbara.
Agatha and Barbara were the world champions in 2015, so it would be hard to characterize the Americans loss as an “upset,” but when it comes to Walsh Jennings in the Olympics, any loss has to be considered a surprise.
As for Walsh Jennings’ future after these Olympics, she wouldn’t commit one way or the other after the semifinal match. Asked if she could return for the 2020 Olympics, she said: “I know I can. I don’t know if I will.”
