updated 3:28 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Dax Holdren could only watch helplessly as partner Stein Metzger made a desperate dive for the ball, screaming as if the noise could stop it from hitting the sizzling sand.

That last spike sealed the fate of the 12th-seeded American beach volleyball pair, who lost to fifth-seeded Swiss Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel 21-16, 21-19 in the Olympic quarterfinals Sunday.

The defeat ended U.S. hopes of winning a third straight gold medal in the event. Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes won the first Olympic beach tournament in 1996 and Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana captured the gold in 2000.

“It’s a bummer,” Metzger said. “But in a few hours, I’ll recover and I’ll go enjoy Athens.”

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Metzger and Holdren embraced after match point, discouraged with their performance, but gratified by their unlikely run.

“We had the best time of our lives and we probably shouldn’t have even been here,” Holdren said.

A year ago, the two were dumped by their partners within hours of each other. They decided to team up, even though their 6-foot-3 frames and similar playing styles made them less-than-ideal partners.

They managed to qualify for Athens and got into the medal round, despite two losses in pool play. They upset fourth-ranked Germans Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann on Friday, but didn’t play as well against Heuscher and Kobel.

“We played as hard we could. It just didn’t happen for us today,” Holdren said.

The Americans were disappointed when they learned they were playing the first match Sunday, under the scorching sun. The beach was so unbearable before the match that the teams delayed their warmups so volunteers could water the sand.

Tournament officials said the temperature of the sand during the match was 107 degrees.

The sweltering heat drained both teams mentally and physically. Early in the second set, the teams played a rally that lasted nearly a minute — a marathon in beach volleyball. When Kobel ended the point with a spike to open sand, all four players collapsed in the sand, exhausted.

“We killed each other,” Heuscher said. “It’s impossible to play in this heat.”

The Americans dueled to a 13-13 tie in the second set before spikes by Kobel and Heuscher gave the Swiss the lead for good.

On match point, Holdren deflected a Kobel spike that Metzger couldn’t chase down.

“Some of the rallies, we just couldn’t quite finish off,” Holdren said. “You’ve got to make the plays at the right time.”

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