Kelly Cheng doesn’t do a lot along with her fingernails.
Good factor, too.
On Sunday night in Paris throughout their first-round playoff matchup with Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi, the size — or lackthereof — of the 6-foot-2 blocker’s nails was each bit as vital as her serving and siding out.
Up 13-11 within the third set, Gottardi swung large in transition — simply over the block of Cheng.
Or did it nip her fingers?
Italy challenged, on the lookout for a spark off the block, and the following replay confirmed the ball lacking Cheng’s outstretched fingers by millimeters. The error prolonged the result in 14-11 in favor of the USA, and two sideouts later, Cheng and Hughes clinched an exciting 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 victory and a berth into the quarterfinals.
The truth that the third set was as shut as it will definitely turned was a testomony to Italy’s resolve and maybe a contact of nerves on behalf of the USA. Up 10-4 within the third, many American followers may have begun early coronations of a fourth straight victory for Cheng and Hughes. However Menegatti shouldn’t be a four-time Olympian for naught, and Gottardi, her 21-year-old associate, didn’t win the Seashore Professional Tour 2023 Rookie of the 12 months and Server of the 12 months for naught.
Again they grinded, rattling off a 7-2 run on a mix of American errors, Gottardi blocks, and Menegatti digs and transition kills to chop the result in 12-11. The primary and solely probability they needed to tie the set for the primary time because it was 1-1 was held off by a USA sideout, and the momentum halted completely by the slimmest of margins, on a swing that might have clipped the fingernails of, say, Canada’s Brandie Wilkerson, however not Kelly Cheng.
The match was one other chapter within the large rivalry between the 2 groups. Three out of their 4 matches have gone the total three units, whereas the opposite, the 2023 Tepic Elite16 semifinals, went 30-28, 21-19.
Cheng and Hughes will now advance into the quarterfinals, the place they may match up with the most well liked crew within the match in Switzerland’s Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli. Earlier on Sunday, Brunner and Huberli swept Spain’s Lili Fernandez and Paula Soria, 23-21, 21-16, their fourth straight sweep. They’re certainly one of simply two groups left who haven’t dropped a set, the opposite being Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa, who will play Japan’s Miki Ishii and Akiko Hasegawa on Monday and are anticipated so as to add one other sweep to the ledger.
In seven matchups between Switzerland and the USA, Brunner and Huberli have received 4, the latest being a 21-16, 21-11 sweep on the Ostrava Elite16 in June. The earlier two conferences this 12 months – within the Doha and Brasilia Elite16s – have been determined 15-13 within the third set, every crew profitable one.
Monday’s Olympics seaside volleyball schedule
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillmann (Germany) vs. Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova (Latvia)
Michal Bryl, Barosz Losiak (Poland) vs. Adrian Gavira, Pablo Herrera (Spain)
Tania Moreno, Daniela Alvarez (Spain) vs. Katja Stam, Raisa Schoon (Netherlands)
Chase Budinger, Miles Evans (USA) vs. Anders Mol, Christian Sorum (Norway)
Andy Benesh, Miles Partain (USA) vs. Sam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai (Italy)
Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson (Canada) vs. Kristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth (USA)
Ana Patricia Silva, Duda Lisboa (Brazil) vs. Akiko Hasegawa, Miki Ishii (Japan)
Cherif Younousse, Ahmed Tijan (Qatar) vs. Marco Grimalt, Esteban Grimalt (Chile)
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