Diving for Mikasa in a match against China is American April Ross
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 8, 2016 - After playing six women’s matches here Monday, two things were determined for participants in Pools B, C and F in the beach volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games being played at the 12,000-seat “Coliseu on Copacabana”.
First, American Olympic medallists April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings are the sole leader in Pool C after posting a 2-0 (21-16, 21-9) win in 35 minutes over previously-unbeaten Fan Wang and Yuan Yue of China. It was Ross and Walsh Jennings fourth win in five international meetings with the Chinese with the lone setback being at the 2015 FIVB World Championships in the Netherlands.
To clinch their group to advance to the elimination rounds as the third-seeded team, the Americans must defeat Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland Wednesday or end up with a better point ratio than any team tying them in Pool C. Ross and Walsh Jennings have won all three international meetings with Forrer and Verge-Depre, who defeated Mariafe Artacho and Nicole Laird of Australia 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 21-19) Monday in 62 minutes.
Secondly, Pools B and F feature two teams each tied atop the group standings with 2-0 records. The winning team in those pools will advance as the second and sixth-seeded tandems in the 16-team elimination bracket where matches will be played Friday and Saturday.
In Pool B, the pairs of Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas of Brazil and Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez of Spain are undefeated after defeating teams from Argentina and the Czech Republic, respectively, Monday. When the two teams meet Wednesday, Agatha and Barbara will enter the confrontation with a 4-1 edge in the international series with the Spaniards.
Agatha and Barbara, the reigning FIVB world champions, posted a 2-0 (21-11, 21-17) win in 37 minutes over Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug of Argentina Monday before Elsa and Liliana defeated Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) in 42 minutes.
Co-leaders in Pool F with 2-0 match marks are Madelein Meppelink/Marleen Van Iersel of The Netherlands and Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy of Australia. The two teams meet Wednesday with the Aussies holding a 5-2 edge in the international matches between the two tandems.
In matches Monday, Meppelink and Van Iersel defeated Natalia Alfaro and Karen Charles of Costa Rica 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) in 36 minutes while Bawden and Clancy were victors over Norisbeth Agudo and Olaya Pazo of Venezuela 2-0 (21-9, 21-14) in 32 minutes.