Hostile was the expectation for the environment of Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes’ second match of pool play at these Paris Olympic Games. On Wednesday afternoon, Cheng and Hughes were matched up with France’s Aline Chamereau and Clemence Vieira, the home wild cards who would have the 12,000-strong French fans roaring with every kill, every block, every dig, every point.
It wasn’t hostile enough, as Cheng and Hughes won their second straight match with another sweep, 21-16, 23-21.
Perhaps due to the crowd, it was a much closer match than many may have expected. Chamereau and Vieira certainly provided a stronger test than the Czech Republic’s Bara Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova did on Sunday evening, when Cheng and Hughes won, 21-16, 21-11. By the technical timeout of the opening set, France led the Americans, 11-10.
It’s the latest the USA has trailed in a set in the Olympics.
It didn’t last long.
Cheng and Hughes scored three straight out of the timeout and sustained the momentum for a 6-1 run. The world-class defense that has Hughes No. 2 in digs for the tournament — behind only Kristen Nuss — provided a host of issues for Chamereau and Vieira, for if it wasn’t Hughes in the backcourt, it was Cheng at the net, piling up three blocks in all.
It was their defense, again, in the second set that prevailed. A choppy offensive performance at the outset put the USA down at the technical timeout again, this time 9-12. Just as they did in the opening set, they roared out of the timeout, pushing out to a 5-2 run to tie it at 14-14 with a massive Cheng block. A Hughes ace put the Americans up 15-14 for their first lead since 6-5 — yet France took it back at 17-16 after a Cheng shot went wide. It wouldn’t last long. Cheng wisely pulled off the net at 18-18, picking up a short shot from Vieira and converting to put the USA back in the lead, 19-18.
This time, it was a lead they’d maintain, and a match they’d finish with a Hughes dig and putaway and a Cheng block to cap it off, 23-21.
The win puts Cheng and Hughes at 2-0, and they are now tied for the top spot in Pool C with Germany’s Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann, who have also swept both the Czech Republic and France. They will meet one another in the final round of pool play on August 2, although there will be little on the line. Both Cheng and Hughes and Muller and Tillmann have clinched a berth into the round of 16.
Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, too, have clinched a berth into the round of 16. Like Cheng and Hughes, they are also 2-0 without dropping a set and will conclude pool play on August 1 against China’s Chen Xue and Xinyi Xia.
Zoe Verge-Depre, Esmee Bobner land second straight upset
They became one of the most popular teams throughout the Olympic qualification process, and now Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner, Switzerland’s No. 2 duo in the Paris Olympic Games, is one of the hottest teams in the Games. After opening the Olympics with an upset sweep over Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova (21-15, 21-14), Verge-Depre and Bobner have landed another, this one over Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (21-18, 13-21, 15-11).
The upsets have made quite a mess of Pool D, as the three seed (Verge-Depre and Bobner) are now almost guaranteed to take the top spot, with only Paraguay remaining. This makes for Humana-Paredes’ and Wilkerson’s match against Graudina and Samoilova a head-on-head for the second and third spots in pool.
Wednesday’s Olympic Beach Volleyball results
Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner (Czech Republic) def. Julian Horl, Alex Horst (Austria) 21-18, 21-13
Tanja Huberli, Nina Brunner (Switzerland) def. Laura Ludwig, Louisa Lippmann (Germany) 21-9, 21-15
Svenja Muller, Cinja Tillmann (Germany) def. Bara Hermannova, Marie-Sara Stochlova (Czech Republic) 21-17, 21-9
Tina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova (Latvia) def. Poletti, Michelle (Paraguay) 21-19, 21-15
Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes (USA) def. Clemence Vieira, Aline Chamereau (France) 21-16, 23-21
Steven van de Velde, Matthew Immers (Netherlands) def. Marco Grimalt, Esteban Grimalt (Chile) 21-19, 21-16
Daniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno (Spain) def. Lezana Placette, Alexia Richard (France) 21-12, 21-15
Evandro Goncalves, Arthur Mariano (Brazil) def. Sam Schachter, Dan Dearing (Canada) 21-13, 21-16
Zoe Verge-Depre, Esmee Bobner (Switzerland) def. Melissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson (Canada) 21-18, 13-21, 15-11
Anders Mol, Christian Sorum (Norway) def. Alex Ranghieri, Adrian Carambula (Italy) 21-12, 21-15
Thursday’s Olympics beach volleyball schedule
Two more USA teams are in action including late-night with TKN as Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss try to close out pool play 3-0 when they play the Chinese pair of Xinyi Xia and Chen Xu. They are 1-1.
Earlier, two 1-1 teams try to cement their place in the next round when Miles Partain and Andy Benesh play Brazil’s George and Andre. The surprise pair of the tournament tries to go 3-0 when Cubans Noslen Diaz and Jorge Alayo play Morocco’s Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui (0-2).
Also, Canadians Heather Bansley and Sophie Bukovec (0-2) try to salvage things when they play Australians Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy (1-1).
All times are local. Paris is 6 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern and 9 hours ahead of Pacific:
9 a.m. — Ehlers/Wickler (Germany) vs. Hodges/Schubert (Australia)
10 a.m. — Cherif/Ahmed (Qatar) vs. Nicolaidis/Carracher (Australia)
11 a.m. — Liliana/Paula (Spain) vs. Marwa/Elghobashy (Egypt)
Noon — Diaz/Alayo (Cuba) vs. Abicha/Elgraoui (Morocco)
3 p.m. — George/Andre (Brazil) vs. Partain/Benesh (USA)
4 p.m.  — Mariafe/Clancy (Australia) vs. Bansley/Bukovec Canada)
5 p.m. — Ahman/Hellvig (Sweden) vs. Cottafava/Nicolai (Italy)
8 p.m. — Ana Patricia/Duda (Brazil) vs. Gottardi/Menegatti (Italy)
9 p.m. — Bryl/Losiak (Poland) vs. Bassereau/Lyneel (France)
10 p.m. — Kloth/Nuss (USA) vs. Xue/Xia (China)
