Williams and Prosser Fall in Semifinals
August 23, 2004 | Bruin Athletics
Aug. 23, 2004
Spain's Javier Bosma and Pablo Herrera defeated Australia's Mark Williams (UCLA '01) and Julien Prosser 2-0 to win a berth in Wednesday's final of the Men's Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournament. Bosma-Herrera won 21-18, 21-18 in 45 minutes and advanced to the gold medal match against the top-seeded Brazilian team of Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego. Williams and Prosser will play against Switzerland's Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel in Wednesday's bronze medal match. "I am very disappointed but [Spain] played a great match, said Williams, a two-time Olympian. "We just couldn't create opportunities. I think we played well but they just played better. They're a great team." Fifteenth-seeded Spain becomes the first European team to qualify to an Olympic Games Beach Volleyball final, but Williams and Prosser, the tournament's 17th seed, are also the first Australian team to make it to the top four in men's Olympic Beach Volleyball. The two teams played a close first set, with the Spaniards gaining a two-point lead for the first time at 15-13. Bosma-Herrera held on to their lead and widened it to three at 19-16 on an attack error by Prosser. Australia got its sideout from Prosser, and Spain answered with its own by Herrera to reach set point. Prosser added a cut shot for 20-18, but Bosma slammed a cross-court kill to end the set. Spain led throughout the second set and reached match-point with a five-point lead, 20-15. Williams got a sideout kill for 20-16 and served an ace down the middle for 20-17. Australia got another point when Herrera shot wide across the net. Bosma came back with the winning point that put the Spaniards in the final.