Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes lost a set for the first time in the Paris Olympics beach volleyball tournament.
Instead of getting discouraged, it motivated them.
“When we bring the fire, the energy, the passion, we play better. So, we want to bring that all the time,” Hughes said after their win over Italy with scores of 21-18, 17-21, 15-12 on Sunday. “Kelly and I really fight to stay in that present moment, and that really helps our team.”
Cheng and Hughes, who are the defending world champions, were behind 17-16 in the first set but managed to win five of the next six points. In the second set, Italian players Marta Menegatti and Valentia Gottardi scored five points in a row after an 8-8 tie to take control.
In the third set, the Italians came back from an early six-point deficit to close the gap to 12-11. Cheng and Hughes, celebrating with pumped fists and sand kicks unlike their previous matches, pushed the score to 14-11 and won the match on their second opportunity.
“It’s not pool play anymore,” Cheng said. “You lose and you’re out. So for sure there’s emotions. It’s something we’ve been working for a long time. So, yeah, the points, you feel them, for sure.”
The Americans’ next match will be against Switzerland’s Tanja Hueberli and Nina Brunner, who won against Spain earlier on Sunday.
In another match that night, Brazil’s Evandro and Arthur defeated the Dutch team of Matthew Immers and Steven van de Velde. Van de Velde had been convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl in 2016.
Defending world champions David Schweiner and Ondrej Perusic from Czechia lost to another Dutch team in the round of 16.
“We knew that if we can play well, we can beat them,” said the Netherlands’ Yorick de Groot. “But for the last four matches, they beat us, and we’ve been struggling against them.”
The Netherlands will face Germany in the quarterfinals.
“The last time we played them was also the first time we beat them, so that was a good feeling for us and we’re going to take a lot of that into the next game,” said his teammate, Stefan Boermans. “They will also definitely see the footage back from that match and will adjust.”
