TOKYO — Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland cruised to a straight-set victory over Latvia on Friday to claim the Olympic beach volleyball bronze medal.
It’s the first medal ever for the Swiss women on the beach.
Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman were scheduled to play Mariafe Artacho and Taliqua Clancy of Australia in the gold medal match later Friday.
The Swiss edged Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka 21-19 in the first set before opening a 5-1 lead in the second and pulling away to win 21-15.
Graudina was the first person to make the Olympics after coming up through an NCAA beach volleyball program that started in 2012. She played at Southern California, where she was the 2019 national player of the year and led the Trojans to the 2021 national championship.
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