One streak is over, but the more important winning streak continues for two-time defending Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists Kerri Walsh-Jennings and Misty May-Treanor.
The Americans lost the first set of their preliminary round match against Austria 21-17 on Wednesday night — the first time they've lost a set in three Olympics.
Walsh-Jennings is suffering from pink-eye, which is expected to last through the end of the games. She wore protective goggles in the first losing round, but took them off after the loss. From there on out - she dominated.
They came back to win the second 21-8 and took the third 15-10 to remain unbeaten in this and every other trip to the Olympic Games.
"I was furious," Walsh Jennings said afterward. "It's still with me. I want to go to the practice court and fix it."
Walsh-Jennings is a Bay Area native. She married fellow pro-beach volleyball player Casey Jennings. The two have two young sons born in 2009 and 2010.
Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor won seven straight matches in Athens and again in Beijing to collect a pair of gold medals. They won also their first two matches in London, a run of 16 matches.
Beach volleyball is best of three sets, the first two to 21 and the last to 15.
The pair has to wait until the end of play tomorrow to see who they will face in the first round of single elimination Friday.
Despite the first set loss, the Americans won their pool and advance to the knockout round as a No. 1 seed.
"Now it's a whole new tournament," May-Treanor said.
