May-Walsh Still Getting Their Digs In
by David Leon Moore, USA Today
July 1, 2005
That is, Kerri Walsh and Misty May were back on the Today show Wednesday, once again bumping and setting with Katie Couric on a makeshift sand court in Rockefeller Plaza.
And, Walsh and May are still winning.
Oh, there is one thing different. May is now May-Treanor, having married Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor in November.
Walsh is getting married, too, planning to wed Casey Jennings, also a beach volleyball star, on Dec. 4.
Other than that, it's more of the same old dominance, and they have no plans on ending their reign on the sand until at least 2008, when they hope to defend their Olympic title in Beijing.
They'll probably lose a tournament sometime between now and then. But when? And to whom?
They've won all five AVP pro beach tournaments this season, plus their only appearance on the international FIVB tour, where they won their second consecutive world championship last week in Berlin.
At the Olympics last year, they won seven consecutive matches, 14 consecutive sets.
From July 2003 to June 2004, they won a record 15 consecutive tournaments and 89 consecutive matches.
They'll try to keep their current streak going this weekend in Cincinnati, where the AVP launches its five-event Nissan Championship Series with a men's and women's tournament.
The women's final will be telecast live at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC, and the men's final will air at 4:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
Walsh and May-Treanor aren't big on talking about their streaks.
"No, we don't like to talk about that," Walsh says. "You get superstitious. You don't want to jinx yourself."
The duo's competition has changed since last year, when the top challenges came from Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs and Jenny Johnson Jordan/Annett Davis.
Johnson Jordan and Davis are each taking the season off to start families.
McPeak and Youngs, the Athens bronze medalists, switched partners after last year, Youngs pairing with Rachel Wacholder and McPeak picking up Jennifer Kessy.
"Everybody's gotten better," May-Treanor says. "It's kind of weird seeing new teams on the other side of the net. It gives us a new look, a different style of play."
But no style and no team has been up to the challenge of defeating Walsh, 26, of Redondo Beach, Calif., and May-Treanor, 27, of Long Beach. In their six tournament wins in 2005, they've won 35 consecutive matches.
The team that people last year were calling the best in the history of women's beach volleyball has, if anything, gotten better.
"We're both excited about how we keep improving," Walsh says.
Says May-Treanor: "This year's like a continuation of last year, except with a lot less pressure. We're just focusing on getting better."
That's a scary thought to their competitors, who have yet to find a way to deal with May-Treanor, 5-9, a gifted natural athlete with savvy instincts for the beach game, and Walsh, 6-21⁄2, a mixture of height and athleticism unmatched in the sport.
At this point, it would seem their only obstacle would be boredom.
"Oh, not at all," Walsh says.
"Life is good, and the AVP is just blowing up. The sport is growing, and we're having a really, really good time.
"Maybe just after the Olympics last year there was a little letdown. But this year, we're on a new track. The Olympics are gone. We have new goals. We want to win this championship series that starts this week.
"These are new baby steps on the way to Beijing, hopefully."
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