California golden girls

The top-seeded women’s beach volleyball duo of former Newport Harbor

High standout Misty May and Kerri Walsh reached the pinnacle of the

Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Tuesday, defeating Brazil’s Shelda

Bede and Adriana Behar, 21-17, 21-11, to win the gold medal.

The 5-foot-9 May, who spent most of the summer rehabilitating

after an abdominal strain sidelined her for two months, along with

Walsh, continued their powerful run through these Games, finishing

7-0 -- without losing a set in that span -- while earning the United

States’ first gold medal and second overall since women’s beach

volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1996. Earlier Tuesday, fellow

Americans Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs captured the bronze with a

21-18, 15-21, 15-9 victory over Australia’s Natalie Cook and Nicole

Sanderson.

May, 27, and Walsh, 26, defeated McPeak and Youngs in the

semifinals Monday and showed no signs of slowing against the

second-seeded Brazilians.

In a rematch of the 2003 world championship final, May, a National

Player of the Year when at Long Beach State, and Walsh, an

All-American when she attended Stanford, took control of Brazil from

the start, building off an early 13-7 lead to secure the first game.

The Brazilians tested the California duo early in the second game,

hanging tough at 9-7. But the U.S. controlled the set from that point

on, scoring 14 of the final 16 points to put away the match.

May led the U.S. with 14 kills and 15 digs while Walsh patrolled

the net, tallying five blocks for the reining world champions. Behar

led Brazil with 13 kills while Bede recorded a match-high 19 digs.

May and Walsh’s latest victory improved their record to 108-8 in

the last two years, which included an unprecedented 90-match,

15-tournament winning streak that ended in June.

May teamed with McPeak to take fifth place in the 2000 Games while

Walsh helped the U.S. indoor team to a fourth-place showing.

* In other Olympic news:

Newport Beach resident Peter Wells and UC Irvine product Lanee

Butler-Beashel conclude racing in the men’s and women’s windsurfing

competitions, respectively, today. As of Monday, Butler stood in 17th

place with 10 of 11 races completed while Wells sat in 27th place

with one race remaining.

The U.S. men’s water polo team, which features five former UCI

players, will know its opponent for the consolation round, which

begins Friday. Team USA (2-3) will face either Kazakhstan (0-5) or

Australia (1-3-1), which faced each other late Tuesday night. Team

USA needs two victories to claim seventh place.