Up-and-comers advance at Long Beach

The United States Olympic Committee might want to stock up on Ross jerseys.

Summer Ross, 20, proved why she’s one of beach volleyball’s up-and-coming stars Thursday, advancing to the FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam semifinals with Emily Day. Because top-seeded Americans April Ross and Jennifer Kessy were eliminated early in the tournament, Summer Ross -- who is second cousins with April -- and Day, 25, are the only U.S. pairing left in contention.

Ross and Day beat teams from Spain (21-18, 21-15) and Slovakia (17-21, 21-13, 15-11) to clinch a spot in Friday’s semifinal at the ASICS World Series of Beach Volleyball.

“Summer Ross is going to be a superstar,” Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers said.

Ross showcased a mean cross-court kill and sharp defense as the 15th-ranked duo advanced to face No. 2-seeded Brazil at 11:30 a.m. Friday. With the sport’s current generation of stars primarily in their mid-30s, Ross and Day hope to fill the upper-echelon void that eventually will be vacated by Kerri Walsh Jennings, April Ross and Kessy.

Or maybe, they’ll push them out before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“This off-season, we had to work hard and train hard because we saw that there was an opportunity,” Day said. “You don’t get many, so when you do, you just kind of have to kick the door in and win.”

Ross and Day started by winning the FISU World University Championships in Brazil last September. They are getting better with each tournament and will play for the best finish in an FIVB event Friday while three higher-seeded American pairings watch from the sidelines.

“We can’t start thinking about medals and points and whatnot,” Day said. “It’s just another match.”

Chimed in Ross: “It’s just another day at the beach.”

April Ross, Kessy are eliminated in round of 32

This has been a bad week for the top American players. After Walsh Jennings had to withdraw from the tournament because of an abdominal strain, the top-seeded American pairing of April Ross and Kessy lost to a strong team from Brazil, 21-15, 13-21, 16-14, in the round of 32.

“We’ve had trouble with them all year,” Kessy said. “It’s tough. I have to side-out perfect to beat that team and I didn’t.”

After dropping the first set, Ross served the Americans back through the second set. Two roll-over aces gave them a 12-11 lead in the third before Agatha Bednarczuk blocked Ross to make it 12-13. After Kessy and Maria Antonelli exchanged kills, Bednarczuk faulted on a match point.

But the Americans failed to capitalize on the break, and Brazil didn’t slip up again. An Antonelli kill off a Ross serve made it 14-15 and a Kessy spike went wide left to end it.

“I know April and I can play really well,” Kessy said. “That’s one of our closest matches with them, so we’re inching in on them. We’re just getting better every time, which is hard to do after seven years.”

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