Misty May and Kerri Walsh



	BEACH VOLLEYBALL: USA's Misty May and Kerri Walsh Win FIVB World Championship by Paul Soriano - USA Volleyball (719-228-6800) For Immediate Release Oct. 12, 2003 RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Misty May and Kerri Walsh became the first team from the United States to claim a title at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by SWATCH by defeating two-time world champions Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in the finals at Copacabana Beach on Sunday. The American duo claimed their fifth title on the 2003 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as May and Walsh scored a 21-19 and 21-19 victory over the two-time defending champions to close a season where they lost just four of 52 matches against international competition. All four losses were to teams from Brazil, including three to Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires Tavares and one to Behar and Bede in the bronze medal match in Germany. May and Walsh finished the season 4-3 against Ana Paula and Sandra Pires and 4-1 against Bede and Behar. “We woke up this morning very excited about playing and looking forward to a great match – they (Adriana and Shelda) always challenge us and today was no different,” said Walsh. “We were down pretty much all the way through both sets but just managed to pull it off at the end.” May and Walsh split $60,000 Sunday while Behar and Bede shared $40,000. With the world championship payout, May and Walsh finished the international season by winning $192,000 overall. Combined with their domestic play on the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour, May and Walsh won 13 titles at 16 events with a 91-4 match mark and $395,100 in combined earnings. The pair won their last 52 matches this season, including 28-straight internationally. “We just managed to squeak out a victory in the end,” May added graciously. “They (Adriana and Shelda) have always been our mentors and we look up to them every time we play them. We’ve been going now for nine months, so we’ll take a short break now before starting to train again for next season.” Sunday's title was their fourth gold medal in succession on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for May and Walsh and compliments their remarkable form on the American domestic circuit during which they posted a perfect 39-0 match record to win eight titles and $143,100 in earnings. While May was winning her 25th pro beach title Sunday, Walsh was collecting her 20th. Since forming their partnership in 2001, May and Walsh have now won 20 titles together in 37 career starts together with 29 podium places and 31 final four finishes. The $701,990 in career earnings ranks second all-time behind Behar and Bede's $1,610,815. May and Walsh have posted a career match mark of 198-27 (87.5 percent), including 153-25 on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. May and Walsh also erased the memory of their ninth-place finish at the 2001 World Championships in Austria when the United States failed to place a team on the podium. Since the FIVB reestablished the World Championships in 1997, the Brazilian women have won the previous three titles. The USA tandems of Lisa Arce/Holly McPeak and Annett Davis/Jenny Johnson Jordan won silver medals in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs captured a bronze medal in 1999. In Sunday’s bronze medal match, Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson of Australia scored a 21-16 and 21-17 triumph over Johnson Jordan and Davis. Cook, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games' gold medalist with Kerri Pottharst, and Sanderson split $30,000 for third-place while the Americans shared $20,000. Jordan and Davis scored a 19-21, 21-19 and 23-21 win to eliminate Ana Paula and Sandra Pires in the quarterfinals. May and Walsh’s three previous FIVB victories were secured in the grand slam events in France, Austria and Los Angeles three weeks ago. The pair also won June’s Swiss Open in Gstaad. From their eight events on the 2003 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, May and Walsh finished no lower than fourth and also collected one bronze and a silver to go with their haul of five gold medals. They finished the season in second place on the FIVB world tour rankings behind Ana Paula and Sandra Pires, who played 10 World Tour events to the Americans’ eight. “Now we’ll take a brief rest and then come out and start training really hard,” added Walsh. “We want to be as prepared as we can for next season and the Olympic Games in Athens.” For Behar and Bede, the winners of the last two World Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria, in 2001 and Marseille, France, in 1999, it was their fourth silver medal from their fourth finals appearances this season. The Brazilians posted nine podium finishes in 10 World Tour events this year. The Copacabana result also erased a ninth-place finish for Behar and Bede in Los Angeles last month. Behar and Bede have won 29 international events and placed second at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games where they were upset by Cook and Pottharst. In addition to the two final four finishes, the USA women captured a fifth (McPeak/Youngs) and ninth (Diane DeNecochea/Nancy Mason). McPeak and Youngs were eliminated in the quarterfinals (21-18 and 21-18) while Cook and Sanderson ousted DeNecochea and Mason (18-21, 28-26 and 15-12) in the second round of the elimination bracket. The men’s competition at the Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by SWATCH starts with the first round of pool play on Tuesday morning, also on Copacabana Beach. With final entries to be determined, the United States has nominated seven tandems for competition - Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard, Todd Rogers/Sean Scott, Eric Fonoimoana/Kevin Wong, Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger, Sean Rosenthal/Larry Witt, Scott Ayakatubby/Brian Lewis and Canyon Ceman/Mike Whitmarsh. Despite winning Olympic gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta (Karch Kiraly/Kent Steffes) and 2000 Sydney (Blanton/Fonoimoana) Games, the United States men have collected only two medals in the World Championships. Ceman and Whitmarsh won the silver Medal in 1997 at Los Angeles when Blanton and Steffes captured the bronze. The highest finish by a USA men's team in 1999 at Marseille was a fifth by Kiraly and Adam Johnson. Seeded 18th at the 2001 Worlds at Klagenfurt, Rob Heidger and Chip McCaw posted the top finish for a men's team in Austria with a fourth. Misty May/Kerri Walsh Pro Beach Volleyball Partnership Results Career Totals (37 events): 198-27, $701,990 Career Domestic (10 events): 45-2, $230,850 Career FIVB (27 events): 153-25, $550,140 2003 Dates, Tournament (seed), Match Mark, Finish, Earnings 1. April 4-6, Fort Lauderdale (2), 5-0, 1st, $14,500 2. April 25-27, Tempe (1), 5-0, 1st, $14,500 3. June 6-8, Hermosa Beach (1), 5-0, 1st, $17,400 4. June 11-15, Rhodes, Greece (1), 6-1, 3rd, $12,000 5. June 17-21, Gstaad, Switzerland (2), 7-0, 1st, $22,000 6. June 24-28, Berlin, Germany (1), 5-2, 4th, $18,000 7. July 1-5, Stavanger, Norway (1), 6-1, 2nd, $15,000 8. July 15-20, Marseille, France (2), 7-0, 1st, $40,000 9. July 25-27, Belmar (1), 5-0 1st, $14,500 10. July 30-August 2, Klagenfurt, Austria (2), 7-0, 1st, $40,000 11. August 7-9, Manhattan Beach, (1), 6-0, 1st, $17,400 12. August 14-16 Huntington Beach (1), 5-0, 1st, $17,400 13. August 28-30, Chicago Open, (1), 5-0, 1st, $17,400 14. September 4-6, Las Vegas (1), 3-0, 1st, $30,000 15. September 18-21, Los Angeles (1), 7-0, 1st, $45,000 16. October 7-12, FIVB Worlds, Rio de Janeiro (1), 7-0, 1st, $60,000 2003 Totals (16 events): 91-4, $395,100 2003 Domestic (8 events): 39-0, $143,100 2003 FIVB (8 events): 52-4, $252,000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author: Paul Soriano Organization: USA Volleyball Phone: 719-228-6800