World Series of Beach Volleyball 2015: Score and Recap of Championship Match

Kerri Walsh Jennings’ and April Ross’ magical run at the 2015 Asics World Series of Beach Volleyball in Long Beach, California, came to a halt in the championship match against the dominant Larissa and Talita of Brazil.

The 21-18, 21-16 win in straight sets was the eighth victory in 13 FIVB events for the recently paired Larissa and Talita. The Brazilian duo only led 12-10 in the back-and-forth second set before closing the Americans out with a strong push at the end.

The FIVB World Tour passed along the triumphant scenes after the winning point:

While Larissa and Talita took home the title, Ross earned MVP recognition for the World Series. Walsh Jennings is a legend in the volleyball circuit, but Ross had to carry the team for stretches during this tournament because of injury.

As Nick Zaccardi of NBC OlympicTalk noted, this was Walsh Jennings’ first appearance on the FIVB World Tour since July 10, when she dislocated her right shoulder a second time in the span of two months (the same shoulder has been operated on four times in her career). She played the entire tournament with tape on that shoulder and was forced to serve underhanded and take a one-handed approach on a number of shots.

The Americans fought through that adversity all the way to the finals, but the combination of Larissa and Talita was too much, as Walsh Jennings said on the broadcast, per Zaccardi:

“Today was a lesson. We played the best team in the world.”

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It was a fitting championship match considering both the Americans and Brazilians won four tournaments on the FIVB World Tour last season. Walsh Jennings and Ross were also the defending champions in Long Beach, but they did not have to play Larissa and Talita in 2014.

In fact, Sunday was only the second time the two teams squared off head-to-head, and the Brazilians are 2-0 (the other was a one-set exhibition).

The question now is whether volleyball fans will get a chance to see this showdown in the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Zaccardi said Sunday’s matchup “could determine the early favorite for Rio 2016 gold,” and the Brazilians took full advantage.

From the Americans’ perspective, Walsh Jennings’ health is a concern moving forward. She was clearly limited in Long Beach, and it is difficult to envision a victory over Larissa and Talita if she is less than 100 percent. The silver lining is she has time to recover before the actual Olympics.

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Walsh Jennings also has three Olympic gold medals on her resume with ex-playing partner Misty May-Treanor. The duo won 21 consecutive Olympic matches on the way to titles in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and even beat Ross and Jennifer Kessy in the gold medal match in 2012.

Following the retirement of May-Treanor, Ross and Walsh Jennings teamed up in 2013, and they would both likely feel more than comfortable under the bright spotlight of the Rio Olympics given their rich history on their sport’s biggest stage.

They learned Sunday, though, that they will need more than experience to beat the red-hot pairing of Larissa and Talita.