The Official Site of Misty May

Mon, Aug 11th 2008, 21:41

Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh cruise to 2nd victory in Beijing

By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY
BEIJING — The sun came out Tuesday morning (Monday night ET) in Chaoyang Park, and so did Kerri Walsh’s and Misty May-Treanor’s “A” game.
The defending beach volleyball gold medalists, both of them southern California residents, had played their first Olympic match in Beijing on Sunday in the rain, with fans covered in yellow ponchos.

The beach volleyball vibe in Beijing on Tuesday was a little more like an AVP tour stop in Hermosa Beach, where Walsh lives, or Long Beach, where May-Treanor lives.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Walsh said after she and May-Trainer routinely dismissed the 14th-seeded Cuban pair of Dalixia Fernandez Grasset and Tamara Larrea Peraza 21-15, 21-16.

“There’s some atmosphere out there. We woke up and there were clear skies. It feels really good. It’s really pleasant out there.”

The fans noticed. They were loud and in a party mood.

“It’s great to come here at 9 in the morning and everybody’s fired up,” May-Treanor said. “I think everybody had their morning coffee. The fans were wonderful.”

The volleyball wasn’t bad, either, as Walsh and May-Treanor improved to 2-0 at the Olympics and 103-0 since Aug. 19, 2007, the last time they lost a match — to Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, the USA’s No.2 Olympic team.

Walsh and May-Treanor have won a record 18 consecutive tournaments.

They also tied an Olympic record with their ninth consecutive match victory. They were 7-0 in storming to the gold medal in Athens in 2004.

They controlled Tuesday’s match from the beginning. They felt more comfortable, playing in the California-like conditions and having gotten their Olympic jitters out of the way.

“The first match, we were super nervous,” Walsh said. “We played better volleyball today, and the conditions were nicer.

“We don’t care, though. It could be sweltering. It could be freezing. We want to play good volleyball, and it felt way better today. We cut down on our unforced errors and I felt like they had to fight tooth and nail for every single point.”

Perhaps Walsh’s and May-Treanor’s biggest test now is to find a way to stay sharp with all the time off the Olympics schedule provides. They don’t play again until completing pool play Thursday against a Norwegian pair.