Olympics beach volleyball results: August 16

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 14: Agatha Bednarczuk of Brazil celebrates after defeating Russia in a Women's Quarterfinal match on Day 9 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Beach Volleyball Arena on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Brazil will have a team in both the men’s and women’s beach volleyball gold medal matches following Tuesday’s semifinal action at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Tuesday brought plenty of thrills in the beach volleyball tournament at the 2016 Rio Olympics, as Copacabana played host to the semifinals of both the men’s and women’s competition.

American duo April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings faced their toughest test of the tournament on paper going against Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Agatha Bednarczuk in front of an electric crowd on Copacabana Beach. The hosts narrowly took the first set 22-20 behind four aces to give the Americans their first deficit of the tournament.

Walsh Jennings and Ross were able to narrow an early four-point deficit, but the Brazilians played the best set of the entire tournament in a 21-18 win to close out the semifinal. Sexias and Bednarczuk could not be beaten on the net, and the Americans struggled to earn points while serving.

Next: Olympics track and field results: August 16

The loss marked the first defeat in the Olympic career of Walsh Jennings, who is now 26-1 lifetime. Walsh Jennings will get a chance to win her first career bronze to go along with three golds tomorrow night.

Tuesday’s action began with an upset, as top seeded Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes of Brazil were swept by Germany’s Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst. The fifth-ranked Germans held off the host favorites 21-18 in the first set and quickly put the match away 21-12 in the second to deny an all-Brazilian women’s final.

With another sweep, the Germans are still perfect for the tournament and have only dropped one set in Rio.

Brazil will also have a team in the men’s gold medal match, as top-seeded Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt took down Robert Meeuwsen and Alexander Brouwer of the Netherlands. The Dutch impressively took the second set before Cerutti and Schmidt held them off 16-14 to close out the match in the third.

In the other men’s semifinal, Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai of Italy recovered from a first set loss to defeat Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov. The Italians won the second set 21-16 and put away the deciding frame 15-13 behind three aces from Nicolai. Lupo and Nicolai also lost the first set to Nikita Liamin and Dmitri Barsuk of Russia in the quarterfinals before rallying in a similar fashion thanks to Nicolai’s tough serving.

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