Kenya falls to USA in Olympics beach volleyball clash

Kenya falls to USA in Olympics beach volleyball clash

The national women’s beach volleyball team Thursday morning lost their second consecutive Olympics preliminary match in straight sets falling to the United States of America, at the Shiokaze Park Arena in Tokyo.

Kenyan duo Brackcides  Agala and Gaudencia Makokha were dispatched by USA’s Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil by 2-0 sets (21-8,21-6) with the match lasting just 25 minutes, the fastest women’s match since the Olympics adopted their current format in 2002.

The defeat leaves Kenya’s chances of the knockout qualification dependent on other results of the group after losing their opening match against Brazil by the same margin on Monday.

Claes, 25, and Sponcil, 24 -the youngest USA beach volleyball pair ever- were on fire out of the gate, up 14-4 in the first before a timeout was called. At that point, the Americans had scored 8 of the last 9 points. Team USA finished out the first set 21-8.

The second set was more of the same, Claes and Sponcil held a ten-point lead by 15-5, and closed out the match 21-6. The match lasted just under half an hour; in that time, Sponcil hit five aces.

Kenya will face Latvia on Saturday in the final Pool D game while the Americans will be up against Brazil.

Tags:

kenya USA Beach volleyball 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo Brackcides Agala Gaudencia Makokha

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