Ross and Kessy Win Inaugural Beach Volleyball World Series Cup Final
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Olympic silver medalists April Ross and Jennifer Kessy beat top-ranked Brazilians Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima 15-21, 21-18, 17-15 on Sunday in the inaugural World Series Cup final.
Ross and Kessy won after finishing 16th in the FIVB Grand Slam.
"It feels good that our name will be the first on that cup forever. It will be nice to see my name on that cup when I come watch this tournament in 20 years," Kessy said. "There's a million FIVB tournaments, but this World Series Cup, being in the U.S. and the first time, it's something special."
The Brazilians won the FIVB Grand Slam event on Friday.
"I don't know if it should, but this takes some of the sting out of losing the FIVB tournament," Ross said. "After a loss it feels so good to have this extra opportunity to go out on a win. It feels great to beat the top Brazilian team in what is possibly our last year together, and to do it in front of our families. It couldn't be better circumstances to win the first World Series Cup."
Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson completed the U.S. sweep, beating Latvia's Alesandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins 22-20, 20-11 in the men's final.
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