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June 10, 2007
Lucky seven for Misty, Kerri
Dominant duo takes home seventh-straight title
By Robert Falkoff / AVP.com

ATLANTA — It's seventh heaven for Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.

By sweeping through the Atlanta Open without dropping a game, Walsh and
May-Treanor picked up their seventh consecutive title on the AVP Tour and
put their only blemish of the season in Miami further in their rear-view
mirror.

Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner battled their way back to the final through
the contender's bracket but couldn't provide much suspense at the end as
Walsh and May-Treanor prevailed, 21-9, 21-15.

The beat goes on for Walsh and May-Treanor, who were tested in earlier
rounds but always seemed to find the answers at the right time.

Nearly two months have passed since Walsh and May-Treanor last lost at the
season-opening event in South Florida.

"Miami made us look at ourselves in the mirror," Walsh said. "We've been
able to come back from that with flying colors."

Walsh and May-Treanor set the tone with a dominant first game in the finals.
They raced to a 10-4 lead and never looked back.

"When we play together, it's really pretty," Walsh said.

Turner and Wacholder, who were upset by Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson
Jordan on Friday night and faced a long road back to the final, showed
flickering signs of a comeback in Game 2. But after getting off to a 7-3
lead, Turner and Wacholder saw Walsh and May-Treanor dominate the rest of
the way.

"They came out on fire in the second game," Walsh said. "We made a couple of
mistakes, and that's how easily the momentum can turn. Fortunately, we were
able to stop the bleeding and go from there."

With the victory, Walsh moved into second place in all-time wins with 73,
surpassing Holly McPeak's 72. May-Treanor is at 76 wins and counting.

May-Treanor seemed to be everywhere at once as she turned away one scoring
opportunity after another against Turner and Wacholder.

"She has such an inherent sense of this game," Walsh said.

May-Treanor had 14 digs and 22 kills in the final. The May-Treanor and Walsh
duo was charged with just two errors, compared to seven for Turner and
Wacholder.

Walsh and May-Treanor remain hungry, yet humble. They'd love to run the
table and finish with 15 open titles. But both players expressed respect for
what they feel is a deeper AVP women's field in 2007.

May-Treanor and Walsh have a 40-2 match record this season with 18 straight
wins. The 24 points they allowed to Wacholder and Turner in Sunday's
championship match marked the second fewest they've given up in an AVP
final.

"Obviously, this wasn't the way they wanted to play, but I thought Kerri and
I forced them into doing things they didn't like," May-Treanor said.

Earlier in the day, May-Treanor and Walsh had a more difficult time getting
through their semifinal against Davis and Johnson Jordan. They dug deep to
pull out the first game, 26-24, and then won the second, 21-15. Turner and
Wacholder had a long semifinal battle against Barbra Fontana and Dianne
DeNecochea, but prevailed, 21-18, 30-28.

"We played really well in those extra matches [after Friday's loss]," Turner
said. "We learned a lot and grew a lot as a team. We're just disappointed
that it didn't carry over into the finals."

Turner said it was a case of her team trying to be too fine against Walsh
and May-Treanor.

"We were thinking so far ahead that we forget about the simple tasks,"
Turner said. "We wanted to do so much with the ball. We just have to take a
step back and make sure we do the simple things first. The first game was
all about our errors."

Turner-Wacholder and the entire AVP field will try again to take down the
champions next weekend in Charleston, S.C. But with seven consecutive
titles, Walsh and May-Treanor have the momentum of a locomotive headed
downhill.

"We weren't in the moment, we weren't in the now," Turner said. "When you
play the best, you'd better be in the now."

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