Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs defeat Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in AVP Hermosa Beach Ope

Keeping the Champs Honest

By Matt Zuvela

June 12, 2006

It was a familiar sight for beach volleyball fans on Sunday afternoon at the Toyota Hermosa Beach Open Presented by Bud Light. Once again, the number one team in the world of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were up against second seeded Rachel Wacholder and Elaine Youngs in the finals.

"After we won that first game, we kept saying 'we're going to do it in two,'" said Wacholder, who won the first game 21-18.

Thirty minutes later, they had done exactly that. Wacholder and Youngs won game two 24-22 to complete the sweep of May-Treanor and Walsh and win their first tournament title of the year.

Holly Stein

Rachel Wacholder

It was a welcome relief for Wacholder and Youngs who have lost the last three finals to May-Treanor and Walsh. In fact, all of the 18 tournaments that Wacholder and Youngs have played in together on the AVP tour have ended with a match against May-Treanor and Walsh. Four of those matches have been for wins, meaning titles in Cincinnati, Huntington, Boulder and now Hermosa.

"We've had a pretty poor taste in our mouth over the last couple of events," Youngs said.

"I know we're way better than the team we've been in the finals," Wacholder said of her and Youngs' recent losses to May-Treanor and Walsh. "The last couple tournaments we've really done well in the early rounds, but the finals are flat."

This time it was the other team who played deflated.

"I felt like we didn't have the fire," said Walsh.

Despite a sprained pinky finger on Youngs' left hand that she injured in her first match on Saturday, she and Wacholder played a nearly flawless game and allowed their rivals to defeat themselves.

"They didn't make any mistakes," said Walsh. "I think the problems today were on our side."

Holly Stein

Elaine Youngs & Rachel Wacholder Win

Although it is only the fourth win in eighteen tries for Wacholder and Youngs (five out of twenty five if you include international play), Wacholder and Youngs match up the best against May-Treanor and Walsh. Since May-Treanor and Walsh teamed up in 2001, Youngs has beaten them eleven times with three different partners.

"We came at them today," said Youngs. "They know they have to play well against us."

There are only two other active teams to have beaten May-Treanor and Walsh since they won the gold medal in Athens. Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan from the AVP and Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca, a Brazilian team on the FIVB tour, each have had two wins against May-Treanor and Walsh. But Wacholder and Youngs beat the dynamic duo four times last year, and picked up their first win against them this season three weeks earlier than last year.

Still, one loss is not going to turn the tides and knock May-Treanor and Walsh off their perch at the top of the beach volleyball ladder. Their record speaks for itself, and they continue to have the upper hand against Wacholder and Youngs.

"They're the number one team in the world, absolutely," said Wacholder.

Wacholder and Youngs may have caught the gold medalists on an off day, but there is no doubt that May-Treanor and Walsh are eagerly awaiting their next match this weekend at the Sacramento Open.

"If anything will come of [the loss], it will make us hungrier," Walsh said.

For now, Wacholder and Youngs are basking in the glory of an upset victory, knowing that for today, they are the better team.

"They're the golden girls, but we have a great rivalry," said Youngs.