At the Cuervo Gold Crown Dallas Open, the top-seeded teams of Misty May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Kerri Walsh (Santa Clara, Calif.) won their second event of the season.
May-Treanor and Walsh defeated second-seeded Nicole Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) and Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.), 17-21, 21-14, 15-13, for the women’s title, but it wasn’t easy. May-Treanor and Walsh were down 11-13 in the third set before fighting back for the victory.
“We can be down eight points, and we’re still never out of it, and we like to make the other team feel the same way,” Walsh said in an AVP release. “But we need to start turning it on a little bit sooner. We both want it so bad, and we’re both in it, but we haven’t gotten our rhythm yet at all this year. We’re really looking forward to doing that.”
May-Treanor and Walsh lead the U.S. women in qualifying points for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, followed by Branagh and Youngs. The United States will send two women’s teams to Beijing.
More information on the AVP Crocs tour is available at www.avp.com.
In Guatemala City, Guatemala, the U.S. women’s team of Kathleen Madden (Whippany, N.Y.) and Rosa Masler (Kahului, Hawai’i) placed eighth.
Teams from Mexico won the championship titles, Bibi Candelas and Mayra Garcia winning the respective title.
More information is available on the NORCECA web site at www.NORCECA.com.
Finally, in San Diego, Ashley Engle (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and Kiley Hall (Costa Mesa, Calif.) of the University of Texas defeated Taylor Carico (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and Jessica Gysin (Los Gatos, Calif.) of the University of Southern California, 21-8, 21-12, in the final to win the Second Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship on Sunday.
The volleyball tournament, showcasing the nation's top women's collegiate volleyball players, was staged by CBS College Sports Network, along with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the AVP.
Both Engle and Carico have been involved in USA Volleyball’s high performance program for indoor volleyball. Both were members of the 2007 U.S. Women’s Junior National Team that finished fourth at the FIVB Junior World Championship in Thailand. Both were also members of the 2005 U.S. Girls Youth National Team that finished fourth in China.
Coverage of the Collegiate Nationals, which crowns champions in 11 sports, kicks off with a special one-hour program airing on CBS Sports on Sunday, May 25 (2 p.m., EDT).
More information is available on the AVCA web site at www.avca.org/CollegiateBeachIndex.asp.
The USA Volleyball beach volleyball web site is www.usavolleyball.org/Beach/.
