May and Walsh to play for gold

Newport Harbor High product Misty May and partner Kerri Walsh became

the first United States duo to secure an Olympic medal in women’s

beach volleyball by virtue of a 21-18, 21-15 semifinal victory over

fellow Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs Monday in Athens,

Greece.

May and Walsh, the No. 1 seed now assured of at least a silver

medal, will face Brazil’s Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede in the final

at 11 a.m. Pacific time today.

May and Walsh continued their torrid run through the Olympics with

their sixth consecutive sweep. They have defeated McPeak and Youngs,

the No. 4 seed, in 17 of their last 19 meetings, including Monday’s

41-minute match.

Walsh and May broke away after a 10-10 deadlock in the first game,

maintaining a three-point lead until securing victory.

In the second game, May and Walsh scored five consecutive points

to open an 18-7 lead en route to closing out their American rivals.

May, a former National Player of the Year at Long Beach State,

served long to allow McPeak and Youngs to close to within 20-14.

Youngs, a product of El Toro High, then ended one of the longest

rallies in the match with a kill to close to 20-15.

But Walsh, a former All-American at Stanford, tallied her

match-high 18th kill to secure the victory. The duo built a 32-25

advantage in kills and held a 24-18 dig advantage.

May, who, playing with McPeak, finished fifth in the 2000 Games,

had 16 digs for the winners, who now face a Brazilian team they have

defeated 13 times in 20 matches, including all three meetings this

year.

* In other Olympic action:

The United States men’s water polo team, including five UC Irvine

products, fell to Serbia and Montenegro, 9-4, to conclude pool play

Monday. The loss knocked Team USA out of medal contention.

Former UCI standouts Jeff Powers and Omar Amr each scored one goal

for the Americans (2-3), who finished fourth in Group A. The

Americans need two victories to secure seventh place. The U.S. plays

again Friday, against either Kazakhstan (0-5) or Australia (1-3-1),

which face each other Wednesday.

Serbia and Montenegro (4-1) finished second in Group A.

Amr pulled the U.S. within 2-1 in the first half when he took a

rebound from a shot by UCI alum Ryan Bailey and ripped a backhand

blast from two meters.

The U.S. trailed, 4-2, at halftime but Serbia and Montenegro

scored three of the game’s next four goals to gain command.

Both Lanee Butler-Beashel, a UC Irvine product, and Newport Beach

resident Peter Wells fell in their respective women’s and men’s

windsurfing standings after Monday races.

Butler-Beashel threw out her 19th-place finish in her first race

before taking 15th in her second competition. She dropped one place

to 17th overall after 10 of 11 races.

Wells placed 30th and 28th in his two races, dropping to 27th

overall with one race remaining.

The windsurfing competition concludes Wednesday.