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May 27, 2004 May, Walsh, beach a winning combination By Doug Krikorian You ask Misty May how
many pro beach volleyball matches she and her partner, Kerri Walsh, have
won in a row, and she pauses a moment before saying, "I honestly
don't know.' Understandable. You must realize she
and Walsh have won so many the AVP Nissan Series Web site reveals that
the world's No.1-ranked team has won its last 80 matches that it's easy
to lose count. "I do remember the
last time we lost one,' says May, who will resume her AVP competition
this weekend at the Bud Light Huntington Beach Open. "It was in
Norway last July, and we were beaten by a Brazilian team (Ana Paula
Connolly and Sandra Pires).' "To win 14
straight titles like Misty and Kerri have is a pretty remarkable
accomplishment,' says Leonard Armato, the owner of the AVP who will be
in Huntington Beach the next few days observing May, Walsh, his wife,
Holly McPeak, her partner Elaine Youngs, Eric Fonoimoana, Dain Blanton,
Karch Kiraly and many other top beach volleyball players. "I'm not
surprised by Misty's success. She's the sport's first child prodigy with
instincts that surpass any other participant. Her dad, Butch May, was
quite a volleyball player himself, and Misty has been playing the sport
almost her entire life.' And never has Misty May
enjoyed life more than now, as she and Walsh are dominating opponents
throughout the planet and as she and her boyfriend, Matt Treanor, a
Mater Dei High graduate who's a catcher in the Florida Marlins' minor
league system, are making plans for a Nov.13 marriage. "Things are going
pretty well for me at the moment,' says May, who just returned from
Rhodes, Greece, where she and Walsh registered their latest triumph.
"Kerri and I seem to have a good chemistry going, but I'm not going
to lie. We've also been lucky. "There have been a
couple of matches during the streak that we shouldn't have won. But I
guess all the winning has given us such an inner confidence. We've been
able to dig deep down, and find a way to win when we should have lost. "I'm not sure what
it is. I know we're both pretty good competitors. I guess that helps.' It also helps that
Misty May and Kerri Walsh are two of the most talented female performers
to emerge from the college volleyball ranks in recent years, with May
leading Long Beach State to an NCAA title in 1998 and Walsh leading
Stanford to two NCAA titles. The pair already has
qualified for the Athens Olympics, and Misty May is keeping her fingers
crossed that she and Walsh remain healthy. "Staying healthy
is one of the big keys to winning at the Olympics, and I've noticed a
lot of players on the tour are banged up at the moment,' says May.
"I think Kerri and I are now playing very well. But we've got to
pace ourselves. We'd like to be reaching our peak in August.' Unfortunately, May and
her partner at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Holly McPeak, didn't reach
their peak at those Games and finished in fifth place. She would split from
McPeak shortly thereafter, and would join forces with Walsh, an alliance
that has turned out to be quite successful. "We complement
each other very well,' says May. "What makes Kerri so special is
that she's 6-2, she's very, very athletic and she can pass, hit and play
terrific defense. Usually, someone Kerri's height stays at the net to
block and not worry about defense. "But she can play
in the back, as well as the front. This makes us so much more
diversified, and makes us tougher to defend. We're not predictable.' Misty May owns a home
in Long Beach not that far from the Pyramid, where she dispensed such
heroics that she was the AVCA Player of the Year during her final two
seasons with the 49ers. Obviously, she lives a
frenetic existence, as she also will play in upcoming tournaments in
Manhattan Beach and San Diego before returning to Europe where she will
perform in Switzerland, Germany and Norway. She then will come back to
America for a couple more events, then back to Europe where she will
compete in Austria and France before going for the gold medal in Athens. "I stay pretty
busy,' she says. "But I'm really having a lot of fun. Obviously,
everything is a lot more enjoyable when you're winning.' She's earning a sizable
income, and has all sorts of sponsors Visa, Oakley, McDonald's, Nautica
and Chapstick are just a few supporting her. She also gets moral
support from her future husband, Matt Treanor, who's playing for
Albuquerque. "We talk at least
three times a day on the phone no matter where I am,' says May. The two met four months
ago at the Sports Medicine Institute in Orange, a physical therapy
establishment. "Knew from the
start it was the right person,' she says. The 26-year-old May
doesn't know how long she will keep competing, but does plan to have a
family and get a Master's degree. "As long as I keep
making money, I'll play for a while,' she says. "But there
definitely are other things I want to do. I'd like to eventually have
some children. And I also would like to become a coach.' Actually, she already
has been handling such chores, as she has been serving as an assistant
for the women's volleyball team at Irvine Valley College during the
fall. If Misty May turns out to be anywhere near as good as a coach as she has been as a player, there figures to be a lot more lengthy winning streaks in her future. |
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