Agatha serves right-handed. Barbara serves left-handed. “And that is the hardest thing to swallow”.
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“I think it will take some time to realize what we did here”, Ludwig said.
“They were just sharper on their execution”.
“I don’t agree with that”, Ross said.
Where the Brazilians were sharp, the American duo was uncharacteristically shaky, making too many unforced errors and not capitalizing on quality offensive chances like they usually do.
Agatha and Barbara won 22-20, 21-18 to earn a matchup in the final against Germany.
But the enthusiastic crowd – the Americans insisted it didn’t affect their play – didn’t relent from Brazil’s first point. Before now Kerri had only played with her long-time partner Misty May.
“You’ve got to pass the ball to win matches”, she said, noting that the Brazilians scored aces on her. “That’s unacceptable and inexcusable It’s really, really disappointing and heartbreaking to not do that tonight. We never gave up, but we never got our space”.
Agatha and Barbara picked on her with their serves. But if Walsh Jennings keeps going – she is not ruling out an appearance at the Tokyo 2020 Games – they might one day be able to drive her to practice.
Wow! Did you see that? She then turned a corner, put a towel around her waist, and walked alone, towards a very unfamiliar feeling: playing for bronze, which she does on Wednesday.
She has timed her baby deliveries to fall between Olympics Games – sometimes perilously close, because she was five weeks pregnant during the London Games – and has managed to make a lovely home life for herself and her husband, fellow volleyballer Casey Jennings. Walsh Jennings wasted no time finding a new partner, proposing the idea of teaming up in Rio to Ross as they shook hands and hugged four years ago, according to John Branch of the New York Times.
Their final victory before May-Treanor retired, in London’s gold-medal match, came against Ross and then-teammate Jennifer Kessy.
Now they’ve had to downgrade their goal to a bronze. “They make us try our best, make us do better”, Alison said.
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It would be easy enough to say Kerri Walsh Jennings finally had age catch up to her.
