McPeak and Reno Struggle but Advance to Semifinals

The talk at the FIVB international volleyball tournament Saturday in Hermosa Beach was about chemistry. Specifically, the lack of chemistry that exists between Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno, the top U.S. team which is seeded second in this event.

McPeak and Reno earned the country’s automatic Olympic berth earlier this year, but the team split for three events--one in April, two in May--and recently reunited.

They’ve been inconsistent since reuniting three weeks ago. McPeak and Reno won a tournament on the domestic women’s pro beach tour and placed third in another. Saturday they fell into the losers’ bracket after a 15-12 loss to the third-seeded team of Adriana Samuel and Monica Rodrigues of Brazil. A frustrated Reno slammed her sunglasses to the sand after the loss.

About an hour later, McPeak and Reno struggled to beat seventh-seeded Liz Masakayan and Angela Rock, 16-14, to earn a spot in today’s semifinals against top-seeded Jackie Silva and Sandra Pires.

“After the split they never came back the same,” Silva said. “Last year when we play them it was hard to see their weakness. Now you can see it.”

Reno said chemistry has nothing to do with her team’s performance.

“It’s a cliche, but the toughest thing in sports is to stay on top and to say our chemistry is off, I really disagree with that,” she said.

Two other American women’s teams that will compete in the Olympics--Linda Hanley-Barbra Fontana and Gail Castro-Deb Richardson--were eliminated Saturday. The other women’s semifinal will feature Brazilians Samuel-Rodrigues against Australians Kerri Pottharst and Natalie Cook.

The top-seeded U.S. men’s team of Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel was eliminated Saturday.