Stanford alum Alix Klineman dominated the net Wednesday night as she and veteran partner April Ross swept into the Olympic gold medal match for beach volleyball.
Klineman and Ross needed only 38 minutes to dismantle Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich of Switzerland 21-12, 21-11 at Tokyo’s Shiokaze Park.
The Americans will face Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy of Australia, who defeated Latvia 2-0 to advance. The championship match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday (PDT).
Klineman and Ross never looked better in rolling past the Swiss. They had struggled in the quarterfinals before eliminating reigning Olympic champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany.
Klineman, a four-time Stanford All-American who graduated in 2011, used her imposing 6-foot-5 height to frustrate the Swiss. She had nine kills and more significantly four blocks….
