BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Adelaide-based beach volleyballers Becchara Palmer and Louise Bawden are determined to finish the London 2012 Olympics on a high after crashing to their second straight pool loss against the Netherlands at Horse Guards Parade on a disappointing Day 4 for the girls.

The pair will play against fifth seed Brazilian pair Maria Antonelli and Talita Rocha and face the prospect of being eliminated without winning game.

They suffered their second straight loss against Dutch pair Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel going down in straight sets 21-19 and 21-15 in front of a packed stadium in central London.

Their final pool match is on Day 6 and the must win to salvage any chance of progressing to the top 16.

After racing to a four point lead early in the first set the pair, who are ranked 14th in the world, let the Dutch back into the match and with the scores locked at 15-all it was the closest the Australians would get to a Dutch combination who worked hard to count every Australian attack.

They raced away to create three match points at 20-18, the first saved by Australia but the Dutch girls nailed the next point to take the set 21-19.

Once again the Australian girls rallied in the first half of the second set leading and then levelling at 10-all but before too long the Dutch would take control again and stretched their lead to 18-12 at one stage.

With the Dutch ahead 20-14 Palmer and Bawden saved one match point before Palmer's serve hit the net to give the Australians a 21-15 loss.

"That was devastating, probably no other way to describe it," said Palmer.

"We came here to win and so far we have had two losses in games we could have won."

"We are proud to wear the Australian colours and this result is very disappointing," said an emotional Bawden.

"Becchara and I have worked so hard together and we know we are so much better than what we have displayed here. We know what we are capable of and hopefully we can produce that on Thursday."

Meanwhile Natalie Cook and Tamsin Hinchley will be fighting tooth and nail against Czech pair Slukovca and Kolocova when they chase their first win of the tournament on Day 5 in the 10pm match at Horse Guards Parade.

It will be one of the last appearances of Australian beach volleyball legend Cook, who will retire after these Olympics and 19 years on the FIVB circuit and a span of five Olympic Games. A Win could potentially set the girls scrape into the Top 16.

Ian Hanson
Olympics.com.au