BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Australia’s top-ranked beach volleyball pairing of Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy have started their Olympic campaign in style, soundly defeating Costa Rica in straight sets in their opening Pool F match at Copacabana Stadium.

The pair nominated their strong serving and their high-intensity, physical style of play as highlights of the win. Clancy, playing in her first Olympic match, was particularly devastating on serve.

“We stuck together really well and that’s what brought out our best stuff,” Clancy said.

“We had good opportunities at the net by setting each other up high and bringing that physicality.”

Both teams traded blows to begin the match, with the Australian pair jumping out to a 13-8 lead.

Costa Rica rallied to close the gap to 14-12 before some classy touches from Clancy helped Australia close out the set 21-15 in 21 minutes.

The second set was a more one-sided affair, with the Aussies jumping out to a 12-5 lead on the back of Clancy’s laser-like serving. From there, the deficit was too much for the Costa Ricans.

Bawden, playing in the third Olympics, said the pair would now turn their attention to their second pool match against Venezuela on Monday.

“It’s just one step in the right direction,” Bawden said of the win.

“There’s three steps in pool play and we want to make sure all of those are wins.

“[We want to keep] bringing out some of that big game that we’re looking for and really attacking [with our] serving, just so that the next time we’re stepping out on the court we can go from there and bring it up another level again.”

Australia’s other beach volleyball hopes – Sydneysiders Mariafe del Solar and Nikki Laird – tip off against the star-studded American team at midnight tonight Rio time in their Pool C opening match.

Doug MacDougall

olympics.com.au