GANNETT NEWS SERVICE MULTIMEDIA                                                                    Olympics home | E-mail feedback

August 17, 2004 8:33 pm

Women go 2-0; leisurely beach pace a test

By DAVID LEON MOORE

USA TODAY

ATHENS, Greece — On a typical weekend AVP pro beach volleyball tournament, Kerri Walsh and Misty May would finish their second match about four hours into the first day.

Here at the Olympics, they won their second match on the fourth "day" of the leisurely competition.

After a 21-11, 21-13 victory against Netherlands’ 13th-seeded Rebekka Kadijk and Marrit Leenstra on Tuesday night, Walsh was asked how she copes with the inactivity.

"I was telling Misty this morning I think this is going to be a test more of emotional and mental strength," said Walsh, 26, of Saratoga, Calif.

"When you have 36 hours to think about your next match, you can get a little headsy."

Headsy?

That’s Walsh’s term for too much nervous energy.

"Yeah, she’s the headsy one," said May, 27, of Costa Mesa, Calif. "She gets all amped up."

Typically, Walsh and May, in winning an AVP tournament, would play three matches Saturday, three Sunday, at maybe 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Here, after four days, they’ve played — and won — twice.

The No. 1 seeds are pleased with their play, especially that of May, who has been bothered with a strained abdominal muscle. May and Walsh have today off and play their final match in pool play Thursday against 12th-seeded Eva Celbova and Sona Novakova of the Czech Republic.

The woes for the U.S. men’s beach duos continued, as the 24th and last seed, Norway’s Iver Horrem and Bjorn Maaseide, came from behind to upset 12th-seeded Americans Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger, 14-21, 21-15, 16-14.

At match point, Horrem blistered a jump serve that went off the net cord, which is legal, and hit the line.

"A heater off the tape, on the line. What are you gonna do?" Metzger said.

Actually, Metzger, 31, of Honolulu, and Holdren, 31, of Santa Barbara, Calif., said they could have done a lot more.

"We have no one to blame but ourselves," Holdren said.

Holdren and Metzger still have a chance to reach the round of 16, but they play the No. 1 seeds, Brazil’s Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, in their final pool-play match Thursday.

The other U.S. team, Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, is all but eliminated even before it plays its final pool-play match today against Switzerland’s fifth-seeded Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel.

U.S. teams won the previous two beach gold medals.

ADVERTISEMENT