Sarah Sponcil of Phoenix, Kelly Claes fall in Olympic beach volleyball round of 16

TOKYO — Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes, ranked No. 3 in the world in beach volleyball, lost in the Olympic round of 16 Sunday at Shiokaze Park.

Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, ranked No. 16, won 22-24, 21-18, 15-13 after being down a set and 10-4 in the second.

“We made more than enough opportunities for ourselves to win,” Claes said. “Fought through that first, up in the end and we let them back in. Everybody is good out here so letting that door open just a little and here we are, we lost.”

Canada led 12-11 in the third set when a Sponcil serve was called out. The U.S. challenged the call and at first was successful only for a further review to go Canada’s way.

Down 14-11, Sponcil and Claes held off two match points before losing the third on a Wilkerson winner.

“I thought it (Sponcil's serve) was in,” Claes said. “It sucks, but it shouldn’t have come down to that third set. We did such a good job in the second then just let them back in.”

Sponcil, 24, of Phoenix and Claes, 25, are the youngest ever U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team with both coming out of college in Los Angeles — Sponcil at UCLA (after starting at Loyola Marymount) and Claes at USC.

They first teamed up in 2018 and have skyrocketed up the FIVB world rankings (highest ranking Americans at No. 3) to qualify for the Olympics and go 3-0 in pool play.

After trailing 11-6 in the first set, Sponcil and Claes rallied to a tie at 14. Neither team led by more than one point for the rest of the set until the U.S. converted on its second set point. The Americans jumped to a 5-0 lead in the second set that they extended to 10-4 but could not maintain on a hot, humid morning.

"We just weren't taking care of the ball on side outs," Sponcil said. "That doesn't help the momentum of the game. You have to rely on defense, and that wasn't working. We let them back in it, and I didn't take care of the ball."

Claes said, "It's not about the volleyball. When we're being really good teammates and supporting each other and saying things the other one needs to hear, we're pretty unstoppable. When we don't do that is when we struggle.

"This is a huge learning moment for us. You got to see that in this match. It was a big shift of supporting, not supporting. That's a big piece we're going to take away and try to get better at."

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Reach the reporter at jeff.metcalfe@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8053. Follow him on Twitter @jeffmetcalfe.

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