May-Treanor, Walsh triumph

Misty May-Treanor, a former Newport Harbor High standout, and Kerri

Walsh won their second straight Association of Volleyball

Professionals Tour event with a 21-16, 21-19 victory over Elaine

Youngs and Rachel Wacholder in the women’s final of the Hermosa Beach

Open Sunday.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the 2004 Olympic gold medalists in beach

volleyball, lost only one game in six matches and needed 40 minutes

or less to win three times.

Youngs and Wacholder, who halted the duo’s 50-match winning streak

July 2 in Cincinnati, took a 15-11 lead in the second game of the

final, but May-Treanor and Walsh scored eight of the next nine points

to take command. The match ended with a Walsh kill off Youngs’

fingertips.

Fatigued Dent retires

* TENNIS: Former Corona del Mar tennis standout Taylor Dent

retired midway through the third set from exhaustion and lost the

final of the RCA Championships in Indianapolis Sunday.

Robby Ginepri, who knocked off five of the top 10 seeds in the

tournament including Andy Roddick, fought back to defeat Dent, the

No. 4 seed, 4-6, 6-0, 3-0.

On-court temperatures reached 118 degrees with 65 percent humidity

according to the tournament website.

Ginepri needed only 22 minutes to claim the second set after which

trainers gave Dent smelling salts to try and refresh the 1996 CIF

Southern Section boys singles champion, but afterward told reporters

his strength was sapped.

Peirsol begins quest

* SWIMMING: Aaron Peirsol, owner of two individual Olympic gold

medals and a third as part of a relay team last year in Athens,

Greece, will try to add to his hardware as the world championships

continue today in Montreal.

Preliminary heats and semifinals of the 100-meter backstroke will

take place today with the final set for Tuesday. Peirsol, a Newport

Harbor High product who turned 22 Saturday, set the world record in

the 100 back (53.17) at the trials for the world championships in

April. Peirsol will vie for his third straight title in the event and

fifth overall at the world championships, held every two years.

Preliminary heats, semifinals and finals of the 200 back, 50 back

and 400 medley relay are slated for later in the week. Peirsol owns

a world-record split (53.45), set at last year’s Olympics, in the 400

medley relay.

U.S. won’t get medal

* WATER POLO: The United States men’s water polo team, which

features three former UC Irvine standouts, fell to Italy, 6-5,

Sunday, and out of medal contention at the world championships in

Montreal.

The U.S. (2-2), which includes former Anteaters Jeff Powers, Ryan

Bailey and Rick Merlo, will face either Romania or Germany on Tuesday

and can finish no higher than ninth.