May-Treanor, Walsh ride high

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor have a way of stealing the spotlight during beach volleyball tournaments, but even hours after they finished play Friday on the opening day of the Manhattan Beach Open, fans were gawking at the scoreboard with dropped jaws.

May-Treanor and Walsh won their second-round match, 21-14, 21-3, over Holly McPeak and Jennifer Fopma and in the process scored what is believed to be the most lopsided single-game rout in a main-draw match since the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour adopted rally scoring in 2001.

“It was crazy because we were playing Holly and that will never, ever happen again,” Walsh said. “I don’t think that’s ever happened to her in her life.”

McPeak, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and is one of the top women’s players of all time, and Fopma, a second-year player, were playing together for only the second time.

Coincidentally, it was Walsh’s husband, Casey Jennings, who had scored a 21-4 victory in a game during the Charleston tournament earlier this year, so Jennings no longer owns the record for most lopsided victory even in his own house.

“Our goal was to break that record,” Walsh joked.

May-Treanor and Walsh had scored 21-5 victories in games three times since they joined the AVP in 2003, the most recent coming two years ago in Santa Barbara.

Friday, they cruised through the first three rounds without giving up more than 15 points in a game and extended their winning streak to 38 consecutive matches. They will meet April Ross and Jennifer Boss in the quarterfinals today at 8 a.m. The women’s final is at 1 p.m.

“We’re playing very steady,” Walsh said. “The game feels really simple, and we feel like we are in control, which is huge.”

The match of the day came in the third round of the women’s bracket when Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, fresh off their victory last week in Chicago, defeated Dianne DeNecochea and Logan Tom in a 75-minute marathon, 17-21, 32-30, 16-14. Angie Akers and Brooke Hanson pulled the biggest upset, defeating second-seeded Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh, 13-21, 24-22, 15-11, in the third round.

The men played only two rounds Friday and the top eight seeded teams advanced without losing a game. They will continue through the quarterfinals today.

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