Kessy, Ross win to ensure all-U.S. women’s beach volleyball final

LONDON -- Jennifer Kessy and April Ross were getting a little sick of this rivalry.

Or non-rivalry.

The U.S. team had played Brazil’s Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva nine times before Tuesday night’s women’s beach volleyball Olympic semifinal.

They had lost all nine.

But on the 10th meeting, amid a steady supply of rain, a victory finally came for Kessy and Ross, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12, at Horse Guards Parade.

Kessy and Ross will play the U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings in the Olympic final Wednesday. Two teams from the same country have never met for a gold medal in women’s beach volleyball, which debuted at the 1996 Olympics.

It looked like Kessy and Ross would be done quickly after a ragged first set, but they came back strong in a second set marked by Kessy’s back-to-back blocks on Franca to turn a tie score into a 17-15 U.S. edge.

The U.S. had a 12-10 lead in the third set when Ross delivered a kill off the net. The U.S. ended the match on Kessy’s kill.

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