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Three-time gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and her partner, 2012 silver medalist April Ross, beat Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland Wednesday in three sets (21-13, 22-24, 15-12) at Copacabana Beach.
The Swiss have been the toughest competition yet for the Americans. They handed Walsh Jennings only her second set loss in Olympic play (the last came in London with partner Misty May-Treanor), bringing her Olympic set record to 46-2. She is still undefeated in Olympic play (21-0).
Walsh Jennings and Ross cruised through the first set, but the Swiss fought back in the second. Most of the second set was tied and the Swiss had set point four times, the Americans managing to hold them off for three, before finally giving up their first set loss in this Olympics.
“So many matches go that way,” Ross said, “You go out and you dominate, and then you come out in the second set and it doesn’t mean anything at all.”
Forrer and Vergé-Dépré led the third set 9-8 before Forrer injured her neck. After a five-minute injury timeout, play resumed and the Americans managed to take the lead.
The win solidifies the team’s first place finish in Pool 3 and their advancement to the Group of 16, which begins Friday.
