Kerri also referred to her performance as rocky and said that the Brazilians should have targeted her because she wasn’t playing well, according to USA Today.
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It would be wrong, though.
Walsh Jennings and her partner April Ross bounced back from a shocking semifinals loss on Tuesday with a win in the bronze medal match Wednesday night.
The Brazilian defeat of the Americans in straight sets (22-20, 21-18) was one of the most electric moments of these Olympics. It was the first time Walsh Jennings had lost a match in her 12-year Olympic beach volleyball career. Brazil made the tactical decision to attack her early because it often takes Walsh Jennings a little time to get comfortable in a match. “But we never got our space”. She has yet to say that Rio will be her last Olympics, but she has considered what life after volleyball will look like. Had I done that, it would have been a different match completely. “I’m assuming she’ll have to have one more shoulder surgery before, but she’ll come back stronger than ever, like she always does”. But as Manhattan Beach resident Walsh Jennings made her Rio run, May-Treanor tackled her new job as Long Beach City College’s director of volleyball operations.
This was the first time since the 2000 Sydney Olympics that Olympic beach volleyball has been held on an actual beach – with sea mist rising behind the Olympic rings above the stadium.
Whatever the cause, Walsh Jennings and Ross never did find a comfortable groove, although they kept things close and even led 18-16 in the first game before losing six of the final eight points.
Agatha and Barbara led in the second set as the US women struggled to battle against the pressure from the Brazilian women at the net. After both teams traded point after point, the set was finally decided on a serve down the middle which Walsh Jennings and Ross both thought would sail out of bounds.
The Barcelona striker scored 15 seconds into the game and converted a penalty kick in second-half injury time Wednesday to lead Brazil over Honduras 6-0 in the semifinals of the men’s tournament in Rio. It got worse as the night went on. She has quickly become one of the superstars of this Olympics.
“It hit the heart”, said Walsh Jennings. The three-point lead was one that the US women weren’t able to come back from. But after dropping a lopsided first set, Walsh Jennings and Ross rallied for redemption in a thrilling three-set win over the host nation. Brazil was up 14-12 then. “We didn’t lose”, she said. “But we’re not done”.
Given Walsh Jennings’ past Olympic prowess, fans were stunned and saddened to see the US team lose.
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When she finished the match, she started running around the beach high-fiving people, thanking the fans like she does when she wins.
