Beach volleyball stars stop in Boulder before Beijing

BOULDER • Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh stood on what’s normally the 30-yard line of Folsom Field, signing volleyballs, visors and pictures for a pack of giggly, wide-eyed girls.

Two women sheepishly approached them, hoping for a photo with the world’s best beach volleyball team.

No problem. They had just dominated Kristen Batt and Megan Wallin, so why not send them home with a memento?

Five weeks until the start of the Beijing Games, nearly everyone wants a piece of May-Treanor and Walsh, trying to become the first beach tandem to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

May-Treanor and Walsh effectively mixed power and finesse Friday in a 21-5, 21-7 victory over Batt and Wallin in the women’s main draw of the Boulder Open, an AVP Tour event with a $210,000 purse.

Chances are May-Treanor, 30, of Coral Springs, Fla., and Walsh, 29, of Hermosa Beach, Calif., won’t be challenged in one of their final tuneups before Beijing, where they’ll have the No. 1 seed.

They’ve won 80 consecutive matches and 14 straight tournaments, the past three at World Tour stops in Berlin, Paris and Stavanger, Norway. They’re 21-0 this season on the World Tour, having won 42 of 45 sets.

“We know what to do and what to expect,” said May-Treanor, who has collected $1.7 million for 98 wins in her 10-year career. “We’re older, wiser. We’re the veterans.”

May-Treanor and Walsh never have played like rookies, compiling a 339-35 record in International Volleyball Federation matches since partnering in 2001. They gave the U.S. its first women’s beach gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games, and they’ve won three world championships and a record 34 World Tour titles.

In Beijing, their stiffest test will come from China’s Tian Jia and Wang Jie, the No. 2 seed. Tian and Wang were the last to beat May-Treanor and Walsh in international play, topping them in June 2007 in Stavanger.

“We can do it,” said Walsh, who has netted $1.6 million for 95 wins in eight years. “We have the tools. We know these teams. And when we’re playing our best, we’re very tough to beat.”

Added May-Treanor: “We put pressure on ourselves because we want to be the best. We’re there to win.”

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Contact the Writer: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at freedomblogging.blogspot.com