Published July 25, 2005
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.
Copyright 2005 Daily Pilot
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