AVP In Coney Island
| John, Rita, Brian, and Trish headed to Coney Island to watch the womans finals between Misty May and Kerry Walsh against Jennifer Boss and April Ross. As usual Kerry and Misty swept, more volleyball story below. We ran into a lot of Rockaway friends including Chrisine, Heidi, Lauri, met a new friend Lynn from breezy, Bugsy, Murph, and Flanaghan who told classic rockaway stories, and Jimmy Mack Chris, and Cubby. Working to keep us safe was Kerry and Rich representing the Finest and the Bravest. | |
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After she and Misty May-Treanor, the best women's beach volleyball team in the world, beat Jennifer Boss and April Ross, 21-14, 21-15, in the finals of the AVP Brooklyn Open on Sunday afternoon in Coney Island live on NBC, Walsh was all smiles.
The pair have now won 95 open championships and 17 tournaments in a row, including a record 96 straight matches. They have already broken their own records of 15 straight tournament victories and 89 straight match wins.
"They're each wonderful in their own right," Walsh said.
May-Treanor had 17 kills and 11 digs and Walsh added eight kills, four digs and five blocks. Boss had 13 kills and Ross had 12 in the final. May-Treanor said the long television breaks made it hard for one team to keep momentum. But it didn't look that way.
"It gets tough, especially with the TV and the long breaks," she said.
May-Treanor and Walsh certainly aren't sick of winning, but Boss didn't have the same sentiment about their domination after the Brooklyn final.
"It doesn't make it any easier," she said of losing to the odds-on favorite to take home gold in the summer Olympics next month. "I'm sick of them winning...we're ready for anyone else to win at this point."
Boss and Ross, the alternates for the U.S. national team, put together a small run in the second game, but Walsh and May-Treanor -- as always -- finished with a flourish. With the Olympics only a little more than two weeks away, the sensational duo is in a nice rhythm. They are trying to become the first women's beach volleyball team to ever win two gold medals.
Walsh and May-Treanor won the gold four years ago in Athens.
"Personally, I'm pretty happy with the way we've been playing in the last month," Walsh said. "We're just steady."
The Olympics is, naturally, on both their minds. They will be playing once every other day -- a much greater rest period than an AVP tournament, the balls will be different and each country brings with it a different style of beach volleyball.
Walsh said some of the things she and May-Treanor are working on as preparation are serving and defense. But first, they will be meeting President George W. Bush on Monday night with 12 other athletes, including Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, two of the four U.S. team's men's beach volleyball representatives.
"I've never met a president before," Walsh said. "It's an honor."
For the third year in a row, May-Treanor and Walsh said Brooklyn was a positive experience. They praised the New York fans -- not known for their volleyball familiarity -- for being knowledgeable. There was one part of this stop on the AVP Tour missing for from the past two years for the pair, though.
And clearly, it wasn't winning.
"I passed on the Cyclone this year," said May-Treanor of the famous rollercoaster at neighboring AstroLand Park, "because of the bruises. It's the rickety-ness."
Can't blame her. She's part of a well-oiled machine.