Team USA's April Ross and Alix Klineman enter as the favorites when they take on Switzerland's Anouk Verge-Depre and Joana Heidrich in a women's beach volleyball semifinal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday. Ross and Klineman have lost just one set during the Summer Olympics, and for the most part have been dominant. They were tested in the quarterfinals, but advanced with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over Germany's Margareta Kozuch and Laura Ludwig. Verge-Depre and Heidrich were not even Switzerland's top team, but have been impressive in their march to the semis, including a 21-19, 18-21, 15-12 win over Brazil's Rebecca Cavalcanti Barbosa Silva and Ana Patricia Ramos in the quarterfinals.
First serve is set for 8 p.m. ET. Klineman and Ross are listed as the -275 (risk $275 to win $100) favorite in the latest 2020 Tokyo Olympic women's beach volleyball odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while Heidrich and Verge-Depre are the +200 underdogs. Before you make any 2020 Olympics bets or Tokyo 2020 predictions, make sure you check out what SportsLine Olympics expert, Mike Tierney, has to say.
A national sportswriter whose work appears in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Tierney has covered nine Olympic Games in person. For Rio in 2016, Tierney profited big-time. He told readers to bet Over on Team USA's gold-medal count (41.5) and Over on Team USA's overall medal count (102.5). The result? 46 golds, 121 medals and two easy cashes.
And for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Tierney hit two of his three predictions: Germany (+200) to win the most gold medals and the United States winning Under 10.5 gold medals (+110).
Now, Tierney has analyzed Wednesday's women's beach volleyball semifinal from every angle to help bettors cash in at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. You can only see Tierney's expert Olympic beach volleyball picks at SportsLine.
Why you should back Ross and Klineman
Ross has already won a pair of Olympic medals and is looking to add to her haul. She paired with Jennifer Kessy to win silver at the 2012 London Olympics, and partnered with Kerri Walsh to take bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Her success has continued with Klineman, when the two paired up at the end of 2017. They had a very successful 2019, taking silver at the Beach Volleyball World Championships. In July, they won the Association of Volleyball Professionals Hydro Cup, as well as the Wilson Cup, before winning the AVP Champions Cup a month later.
Klineman, an imposing presence at 6-foot-5, is a four-time All-American with the indoor team at Stanford and transitioned to beach volleyball in 2017. She was a collegiate standout at Stanford and was named the 2010 Volleyball Magazine Player of the Year as a senior. She and Ross won the first tournament they played together in January 2018 and were named the AVP Team of the Year that season.
Why you should back Verge-Depre and Heidrich
Like Ross and Klineman, Verge-Depre and Heidrich have been teammates for a long time. Verge-Depre is a veteran of the Olympics, having competed in the 2016 Rio Summer Games, placing ninth with teammate Isabelle Forrer. She and Forrer later took bronze at the 2016 FIVB World Tour Finals, before Forrer announced her retirement at the end of that year. Verge-Depre then partnered with Heidrich.
Heidrich also competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics with teammate Nadine Zumkehr. As the 14th seed, they took top-seeded Brazil's Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca to three sets, losing 21-23, 27-25, 15-13. Later that year, Zumkehr announced her retirement. At the start of 2017, Heidrich teamed up with Verge-Depre, and the pair have gone on to win one gold and two silver medals at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
How to make 2020 Tokyo Olympics women's beach volleyball picks
Tierney has broken down this matchup and has isolated a critical x-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the money line. Head to SportsLine now to see Tierney's 2020 Olympics picks.
So who wins the Ross and Klineman vs. Verge-Depre and Heidrich women's semifinal at Tokyo 2020? And what critical x-factor do you need to know about? Visit SportsLine now to get Mike Tierney's best bet for Ross and Klineman vs. Verge-Depre and Heidrich, all from the renowned sportswriter who's covered nine Olympics in person and cashed big in both 2016 and '18, and find out.
