ATHENS, Greece - Even though Stein Metzger struggled with the sun, lack of energy and his own play, his teammate's effort was good enough Friday to advance them to the quarterfinals in men's beach volleyball.
Metzger, who was born in Honolulu and attended the University of Hawaii, paired with Daxton Holdren to beat Germany's Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann, 21-16, 19-21, 15-13 at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Center. Metzger gave the credit to Holdren.
``I think that was the worst I have played since I have been at the Olympics,'' Metzger said. ``I was feeling out of breath the whole game, didn't have a lot of energy, and usually my role is yelling and screaming, keeping the team up.
``Today, it was Daxton's turn to do that.''
The Germans employed a different approach to facing Metzger and Daxton. ``They started serving me, which is rare,'' Metzger said. ``Usually Daxton gets most of the sets. I was struggling passing with the sun in my eyes, but luckily we made quite an incredible match.''