Olympics beach volleyball results: August 15
Recapping the men’s beach volleyball quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, including Team USA’s match against Brazil.
The action on Copacabana heated up on Monday with a thrilling set of quarterfinals in the men’s volleyball tournament.
Team USA’s Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser looked to continue their strong run in Rio after impressively sweeping a solid team from Austria in the quarterfinals. However, the American duo faced their toughest match on paper yet against top-seeded Allison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt in front of a passionate home crowd.
Lucena and Dalhausser looked to be in trouble after a 21-14 first set loss, but easily put away the Brazilians 21-12 in the second. The Americans were unable to keep the momentum going, as Cerutti and Schmidt pulled away 15-9 in the third to advance to the semifinals.
A pair of Dutch teams met in the next quarterfinal,as Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen took on Reinder Nummerdor and Christian Varenhorst. Brouwer and Meeuwsen continued their excellent tournament with a 25-23, 21-17 sweep and have only dropped one set in Rio so far.
Next: Olympics water polo results: August 15
The last two matches of the day proved to be some of the most exciting action of the entire tournament, starting with Italy’s Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai taking on Russia’s Dmitri Barsouk and Nikita Liamin. Liamin looked unstoppable at the net in a 21-18 first set win, but the Italians impressively adjusted and responded with a 22-20 win in the second before putting the match away 15-11.
Russia picked up a win in another quarterfinal between Viacheslav Krasilnikov Konstantin Semenov and Cuban underdogs Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez. Neither team could get any separation in the match, as Russia won the first set 22-20 before Cuba fought off match point to win the second 24-22.
The Russians finally won the deciding set on their fifth match point 18-16 on an ace that hit the top of the net, ending the miracle run from the 21st ranked Cubans in dramatic fashion.