The United States has qualified for the finals of the Women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournament in Tokyo.
Alix Klineman and April Ross defeated the Swiss team (Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich) with 2-0 (21:12, 21:11).
“I feel like I’m getting used to it”, said Alix Klineman, the first-time Olympian from Manhattan Beach.
For Alix Klineman and April Ross, the 38 minutes inside the empty stadium in the semifinal looked less like a critical moment and more like an unrelenting, unflinching lesson delivered to would-be competitors when they train in Hermosa Beach. In the second set, for example, April Ross spiked the ball toward Joana Heidrich, whose dig attempt caromed out of bounds. A minute later, Joana Heidrich responded with a spike attempt, but the 6-foot-5 Alix Klineman blocked it. That’s how the match went all morning, sending the Swiss duo lunging around the hot sand, looking baffled and bedraggled.
In the final the Americans will face Australia.
The Australian couple Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy won with 2-0 (23:21, 21:13) against Latvians Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tīna Graudiņa for 43 minutes.
The United States won bronze medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
