AVP MVP gears up

BEVERLY HILLS — On the sand in beach volleyball, Misty May-Treanor is a fierce competitor.

That intensity is also how she helped Newport Harbor High twice win the state championship in indoor volleyball. It’s how she was the 1997 and ’98 NCAA Player of the Year at Long Beach State, helping the 49ers to the national championship in the latter year.

And, it was how, in 2004, she and partner Kerri Walsh won the gold medal at the Olympics in Athens, Greece.

On Thursday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, however, the back-to-back AVP Most Valuable Player appeared to be one of the most relaxed people there.

It was the 2007 AVP/Crocs Tour launch party, and May-Treanor had the most interview requests of anyone. But she didn’t appear burdened, sitting on a couch and munching on a salad.

May-Treanor, who will turn 30 in July, smiled when she remembered her time growing up in Costa Mesa and at Newport Harbor High.

“There’s this Ruby’s sandwich shop right across the street from Newport Harbor,” May-Treanor said. “I was driving by there the other day, and I saw we have lacrosse now at Newport. I was like, ‘What? Lacrosse?’ I drive past there every now and then, and everything’s still the same.

“I’m so happy I went to school there. It was the best time.”

Everything has been the same lately for May-Treanor, too: dominance. In the past two years, she and Walsh have won 25 of 31 tournaments on the AVP Tour.

The other six tournaments, they’ve placed second.

It’s that kind of dominance that allowed May-Treanor, who married Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor in late 2004, to surpass $1 million in career earnings last season at the Huntington Beach Open.

“It’s great. I’m wondering where it went though,” she said, laughing. “If it wasn’t for the players before us, what they went through bringing the game to where it is, Kerri and I wouldn’t be making the money we are. We owe a lot to the women and men who came before us, because they really raised the bar, put it on the map and got the sponsors.”

But May-Treanor has further helped put the sport on the map. And she wants another gold medal.

The 2007 AVP season, which begins April 13 in Miami, will help serve as a qualifying system for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She’ll be close to home May 3-6 when the AVP Tour stops at Huntington Beach and again July 19-22 in Long Beach.

“We’re definitely gearing up,” May-Treanor said. “We want to try to do well in all the tournaments this year, to qualify this year, to take a little pressure off next year.”

May-Treanor has already competed twice in the sport in the Olympics. She placed fifth with beach volleyball legend Holly McPeak in Sydney in 2000, an accomplishment she still relishes.

“”Holly and I weren’t even expected to be able to qualify,” May-Treanor said. “That was an amazing thing.”

But last year, May-Treanor took something from McPeak — the AVP Best Defensive Player award. It goes nicely with May-Treanor’s collection of AVP Most Valuable Player (2005 and ‘06) and Best Offensive Player (’04 through ‘06) awards.

She and Walsh have also been named AVP Team of the Year four years in a row.

Like all time commitments, sacrifices must be made. Last year, May-Treanor said she didn’t get a chance to continue as assistant coach at Irvine Valley College with the AVP and FIVB (international) schedules.

“FIVB runs until November, so by the time I get in there it’s like two weeks left in the season,” May-Treanor said. “I love coaching, and one day I’ll get back there. But with the Olympics coming up, I have to stay focused and prepare for that.”

And the free time she does have, split between her homes in Long Beach and Coral Springs, Fla., is consumed with her boxers Gruden and Boogie.

Gruden is named after fiery Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Jon Gruden.

“If I have free time, I’m taking them for walks,” she said. “To find relaxation, I like puzzles. That’s kind of unwinding for me.

“I definitely don’t lay out at the beach because I’m in the sun so much already,” she added with a laugh.

It’s a sun that still shines brightly for May-Treanor.