Terrific tandem takes Manhattan

MANHATTAN BEACH — Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh earned the largest winner’s check in beach volleyball history, pocketing $100,000 after capturing an unprecedented fourth Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Crocs Tour Manhattan Beach Open title Saturday.

May-Treanor, a former Newport Harbor High star, and Walsh, the two-time Olympic gold medalists, also clinched the AVP Crocs Cup, the AVP season-long championship.

The duo beat fourth-seeded April Ross, also from Newport Harbor, and Jen Boss, 21-18, 21-16, in the final to win the most sought-after title in beach volleyball. The final match will air today on FOX following the NFL broadcast (check local listings).

“We’re up there with the greats,” May-Treanor said in a release, referring to another Manhattan Beach title. “I don’t know if there’s another team who can do four in a row.”

This championship featured a bit of redemption. They had to go through the contenders’ bracket for just the fourth time in their six years as a team on the AVP Crocs Tour.

They actually loss to Ross and Boss in the quarterfinals, 24-22, 25-21, 15-11, before playing their way back into the final with wins over 10th-seeded Lauren Fendrick and Paula Roca, 21-14, 21-14, and third-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 21-11, 21-18.

Before the final, it seemed as if Ross and Boss were the favorites.

May-Treanor and Walsh had failed to win a title in two straight tournaments following the Beijing Olympics. They had won 19 straight tournaments prior to the skid and had also won 112 straight matches before losing in Mason, Ohio, the first tournament after Beijing. A week later they lost in Santa Barbara in the semifinals and were forced to settle for third.

All of this inspired talk of a post-Olympic letdown.

“Were we hungry?” May-Treanor said. “Yeah, we were very hungry for a win here.”

This is the 17th of 18 events on the AVP schedule this year and the last of the team events, as next week’s tournament in Glendale, Ariz., is a format in which partners are mixed up known as “Best of the Beach.”

This season as a team, May-Treanor and Walsh won 12 AVP Crocs Tour titles, three international titles, an Olympic gold medal and had an overall AVP match record of 70-3, all three losses coming in the last four weeks.

On the men’s side at Manhattan Beach, Matt Fuerbringer, an Estancia High product, and Casey Jennings, the sixth-seeded team, advanced to today’s semfinals, defeating seventh-seeded Matt Olson and Kevin Wong, 21-17, 21-14.

There might be a rematch of the teams today if Olson and Wong get past fifth seeds John Hyden and Brad Keenan. Olson and Wong sent Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, the No. 2 seeds, to the contenders’ bracket, with a first-round win, 21-19, 10-21, 15-13. Gibb and Rosenthal were then taken out by another local in Newport Beach resident Jason Ring and Fred Souza, the No. 13th-seeded team, 21-18, 26-24.

Ring and Souza were one win away from reaching today’s contenders’ bracket sixth round, but lost to No. 3 seeds Nick Lucena and Sean Scott, 22-20, 21-12. Ring and Souza split $22,600.

The men’s championship match takes place at 2:30 p.m. today on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier.

The winners will split $100,000.

— From staff reports