USA’s Kerri Walsh starts her quest for her fourth gold to wrap up day one

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5, 2016 – #3 Seed April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States wrap up day one of the Rio Olympics in the wee hours of the morning against #22 seed Mariafe Artacho/Nicole Laird of Australia.  Kerri will be looking to win her fourth Olympic Gold medal with new partner April Ross who is hoping to improve on her silver medal with Jen Kessy in London.  Mariafe and Nicole are playing in their first Olympics.

Head to Head

The two pairs have met one time previously on the FIVB World Tour with Ross/Walsh Jennings winning a three-set match, 18-21, 21-15 and 15-12 in pool play at the 2015 World Championships in The Hague, Netherlands in June, 2015.

Historically the #3 seed has won all four meetings in the Olympic Games with two straight set victories in the three rally scoring matches.  In Beijing, the #22 seed, Georgia’s Andrezza “Rtvelo” Martins/Cristine “Saka” Santanna forced a third set against Brazil’s Ana Paula Henkel/Larissa Franca, capturing the first set 25-23 before falling 17-21 and 5-15 in 55 minutes.

April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings, United States, Seed #3, Pool C, Qualified 3rd with 6,670 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period

• April: June 20, 1982 (34y1m17d), 185 cm (6’1″), 76 kg (169 lbs.), Hometown Newport Beach, California 114th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 36th), 20 gold medals (ranks 8th), $979,175 career winnings (ranks 8th)

• Kerri: August 15, 1978 (37y11m22d), 188 cm (6’2″), 70 kg (155 lbs.), Hometown Santa Clara, California 115th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 34th), 54 gold medals (ranks 2nd), $1,409,170 career winnings, (ranks 3rd)

• April and Kerri have been playing together since 2013. They are playing in their 29th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, 10 gold medals (ranks 7th), $680,500 career winnings (ranks 17th).

• April has played in 54 FIVB World Tour final fours with 20 gold, 15 silver, 11 bronze medals and eight 4th place finishes.

• Kerri has played in 86 FIVB World Tour final fours with 54 gold, 18 silver, nine bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.

• April and Kerri have played in 11 Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Bronze Fuzhou Open 2015, 4th Gstaad Major 2015, Silver Long Beach Grand Slam 2015, Gold Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam 2016, Silver Vitória Open 2016, Bronze Xiamen Open 2016, …

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