Americans march to final

ByReuters

Published 23/08/2004 at 18:52 GMT

Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh continued their unbeaten streak in Olympic beach volleyball semi-finals on Monday and will face veteran Brazil team of Shelda Bede and Adriana Behar in the gold medal match.

The Brazilians dominated at the net and committed very few errors in their 21-17 21-16 semi-final victory over 2000 Olympic champion Natalie Cook of Australia and her new team mate Nicole Sanderson.

In a battle of the Americans, May and Walsh kept up a steady defense and Walsh made some key blocks to beat compatriots Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak 21-18 21-15 and guarantee the first women's Olympic medal for the United States.

May and Walsh have dominated women's volleyball over the past few years but Bede and Behar took the silver medal in the Sydney Games.

Athens 2004