BEACH VOLLEYBALL Americans McPeak, Youngs win easily

ATHENS, Greece -- Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs skipped the opening ceremony to get some extra rest for their first Olympic beach volleyball match.
They found out Saturday night what a smart decision that was.
McPeak and Youngs, seeded No. 4, cruised past 21st-seeded Norwegians Susanne Glesnes and Kathrine Maaseide 21-14, 21-14 under the lights at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre.
Glesnes and Maaseide won the first two points, then lost the next five and never led again.
Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, the top American men's team, were not nearly as sharp in a 21-16, 21-14 loss to 17th-seeded Australians Julien Prosser and Mark Williams in the last match of the day.
The Americans fell behind 6-2 and never led. Blanton faulted on six serves, while the 6-foot-8 Nygaard was out of position on numerous block attempts.
The duo still had a chance to force a third set, trailing only 15-14 in the second. But Blanton sent a jump serve long, Nygaard smacked two spikes into the net and the 17th-seeded Australians closed out the match.
Earlier in the day, 2000 gold medalists Natalie Cook and Kerri-Ann Pottharst got off to a good start with their new partners.
Pottharst and Summer Lochowicz, the No. 18 seeds, upset seventh-seeded Chinese duo Jia Tian and Wang Fei 21-18, 21-18. Cook and Nicole Sanderson, the No. 5 seeds, beat 20th-seeded Bulgarian sisters Lina and Petia Yanchulova 21-16, 21-12.
Cook and Sanderson, also an Olympic rookie, had no trouble beating the Bulgarians. Cook, wearing a bandage to protect a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder, converted 17 of 20 attack tries and Sanderson finished the match with a hard spike.
In other preliminary matches Saturday, Canadians Guylaine Dumont and Ann Martin upset the ninth-seeded Swiss pair Simone Kuhn and Nicole Schnyder-Benoit 21-16, 21-13.
Late in the afternoon, seventh-seeded Argentineans Mariano Baracetti and Martin Conde beat three-time Olympians Luia Maia and Joao Brenha 13-21, 21-16, 15-5 in the first three-set match of the tournament.
Associated Press
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