In a thrilling match, American Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes defeated Italian Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti in beach volleyball on Sunday, qualifying for the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games.
The sides split the first two sets, resulting in a winner-take-all third set in the elimination match. Cheng and Hughes jumped to an 11-5 lead in the final set, but Gottardi and Menegatti fought back with four straight points to keep the pressure on Team USA.
USA scored a kill to stop the run and moved to a 14-11 lead to serve for match point. Italy responded with a kill to regain serve. But Cheng sealed the match with a kill at the net for the 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-12) USA victory. The Americans advance to the quarterfinals to face Switzerland.
This is a developing story and will be updated as time goes on.
