After her fifth Olympics -- fourth in beach volleyball -- Kerri Walsh Jennings has not indicated whether she will push forward toward Tokyo 2020. But the 38-year-old mother of three is more likely to play on the 2017 AVP Tour than her partner, April Ross.

Asked if she will play with Walsh Jennings next year, Ross gave an answer that all but ended her 2017 season.


"If I play, yeah, I'll be playing with Kerri next season," Ross, 34, said. "I'm gonna go for Tokyo 2020, but my husband and I would like to ideally start a family before that, so hopefully next year."

Is that code for something else?

"It's not an announcement. It's just an announcement that we would start a family, but you never know."

Walsh Jennings essentially confirmed the news to ThePostGame on Twitter:


Ross and Walsh Jennings, the No. 3 seed in Rio, won bronze. Ross also won a silver in London in 2012. Walsh Jennings was undefeated while winning three Olympic golds with Misty May-Treanor.

Walsh Jennings didn't lose until she and Ross fell to Brazilians Ágatha Bednarczuk and Bárbara Seixas in the 2016 semifinals. Walsh Jennings put the blame on herself for the loss, but Ross isn't going there.

"It was definitely a team effort and I needed to do a lot of things better," Ross says. "I don't know why we didn't play our best in this match. We hadn't seen that team for about a year, which is unusual ... I think that played into it. I gave it my all, Kerri gave it her all. As a team, we don't have any regrets either."

Ross spoke with ThePostGame on behalf of Essilor's signature brand Xperio UV™ polarized sun lenses and its new A.C.E.S. (All Day Coverage When Exposed to Sun) program, which raises awareness of the sun's damaging effects on unprotected eyes.

-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.