LONDON -- In their first Olympics, April Ross and Jennifer Kessy will play for the gold medal in an all-American beach volleyball final.
In their final Olympics together, Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor are playing for something more.
"We want to seal the deal that we're the best team that's ever happened," Walsh Jennings said Tuesday night after the two-time gold medalists advanced to their third consecutive Olympic final with a 22-20, 22-20 victory over China. "I want to win tomorrow for us. ... This will be our last match together, so we want to go out on top."
A few hours later, Kessy and Ross beat the top-seeded Brazilians in a persistent rain to join their fellow Californians in Wednesday night's gold medal game.
"I can't believe it. I only let myself picture it in my dreams," Ross said. "I never really expected it. I knew that we could do it, but the competition in the final four is so big."
Ross and Kessy rallied from a first-set loss and a four-point deficit in the second to beat reigning world champions Juliana and Larissa 15-21, 21-19, 15-12. The Brazilians will play in the third-place game against China's Xue Chen and Zhang Xi, who are trying to repeat their bronze medal finish from Beijing.
Despite a medal shutout by the American men, the United States has clinched multiple beach volleyball medals for the fourth time in five Olympics since it became a recognized sport in 1996.
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Already the most-decorated team in the brief history of Olympic beach volleyball, Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor are also guaranteed at least a silver medal. No one -- man or woman -- had ever won two beach volleyball gold medals before they became repeat champions in Beijing.
"I had a picture in my head at the beginning of the season of how I wanted us to play, and we're living that picture," Walsh Jennings said. "But it's not over yet."
Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor won gold medals in Athens and Beijing without ever losing a match -- in their first two Olympics, they never even lost a set -- and they ran their unbeaten streak to 20 in a row with a victory Tuesday. But they gave up the first three points of the semifinal and fell behind 13-7 in the first set.
China saved two set points before Xue put one into the net tape to give the first set to the Americans.
The U.S. team held a slim advance most of the second set, but China took the lead 17-16 and forced the Americans to take a timeout. Trailing 19-18, May-Treanor ran far behind the end line to retrieve an errant pass and bumped it toward the net -- too close -- forcing Walsh Jennings to slide under the net, delicately bumping the ball over and to an unoccupied area on the Chinese side of the court.
May-Treanor, who is retiring from international play after the Olympics, said she overshot it.
"They're a great team. They make you do crazy stuff like that," Walsh Jennings said. "That was just funky. Misty ran down the ball and I think I got a little lucky on that one. But you need luck and I think you create your own luck, and that's what you get when you don't give up. But I can't take real credit for that. That's not skill."
May-Treanor fisted one to the back line to set up a match point, then Walsh Jennings' block fell to the sand and she leapt into the air to celebrate.
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