Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst won the Brazilian top-seeded Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca in the semi-finals at the Rio Olympics. It was 9-9 in the first-to-15 third set when Brazil scored three points in a row and then held on for the win.
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The Americans will play Brazil’s Agatha and Barbara – the defending world champions – on Tuesday, with the victor advancing to the gold medal match.
On Tuesday’s semifinals, the German women did not only triumph over a hard rival, they also guaranteed the first spot for Germany in women’s beach volleyball at the Olympic podium.
But the other Brazilian team needed three sets and 70 minutes – the longest of the Olympics so far – to get past Switzerland in the afternoon.
Karch Kiraly’s top-ranked US women’s team moved one step closer to its goal of capturing the Americans’ first volleyball gold, defeating familiar opponent Japan in straight sets Tuesday to reach the semifinals in Rio.
Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede collected silver medals at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic Games after losing the finale to Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst of Australia and Misty May-Treanor/Walsh Jennings, respectively.
On Wednesday night, the Germans will face either three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings and her new partner April Ross, who are seeded three, or the Brazilian pairing of Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas de Freitas, seeded two.
No point was more gut-wrenching than the second match point, with Switzerland up 22-21 in the set.
For the fourth-seeded Germans, it was their sixth straight win of the competition.
“It was really important winning the first set and we knew we had to have patience”, said Ludwig.
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“A lot of athletes strive to represent their country in the Olympic Games”.
