Aug. 21, 2004

Mark Williams (UCLA '01) and Julien Prosser of Australia advanced to the quarterfinals of the Olympic Beach Volleyball competition Saturday with a 2-0 victory over the team from South Africa at the Athens Olympics. Williams and Prosser won 21-14, 21-10 in 35 minutes at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Center. On Sunday they will meet the German team of Christoph Dieckmann and Andreas Scherpflug, which eliminated Australia's other tandem with a 2-0 victory. "I think it was a good match," said Williams. "We won in two sets pretty convincingly so I hope we can carry that over and work the same way mentally into the next match. It was a big game, we were all kind of nervous, but we won." Williams and Prosser dominated the match, enjoying statistical edges in several areas. They out-hit the South Africans 30-16 in kills, out-blocked them 5-1 and recorded 14 digs to their opponent's eight. Williams smacked 13 kills (.682) and recorded 11 digs, two blocks and an ace. Prosser added 17 kills, eight digs and three blocks. The Australians and Germans meet at 4:30 p.m. in Athens on Sunday.