Misty May

She studies everything. No point is too insignificant, no approach too mundane for Misty May. That May, a Long Beach State freshman volleyball star, often knows what her coaches want beforehand doesn't matter. She's attentive anyway; always on the attack. Once the lessons are learned, then the fun starts. Her athleticism takes over and May plays at a higher level than most. "She's a really good player," said team captain Brita Schwerm. "She stepped in right away.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Aug.12 - 18 in PDF format This week's TV Movies CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Hope Solo; Jordin Sparks; women's gymnastics team; Nicki Minaj; Ted Danson; Allison Fishman. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America Sylvester Stallone; Clinton Kelly. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Kelly Jordin Sparks; Chris Harrison. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View First Lady Michelle Obama.

Anyone who saw Misty May play volleyball during her championship days at Long Beach State--with those dark brown pigtails and skin so fair you could tell she spent plenty of time in the gym-- might not recognize her now. That's May with the long blond hair and the killer tan calling the beach her office these days after leaving the U.S. national team last year to try to reach the Olympics playing beach volleyball instead. It was a bold move.

LONDON -- On one edge of the court was Westminster Abbey. On another edge was 10 Downing Street. Towering in the distance was Big Ben. In the middle were four bikini-clad women steeped in Southern California sand, playing a little pepper in Southern California's trademark sport, digging and spiking for an Olympic championship. On a wonderful night in confused old England, Manhattan Beach broke out. PHOTOS: London Olympics, Day 12 A sport that originated in Santa Monica nearly a century ago gloriously bared its roots to the world Wednesday when two USA teams that honed their skills on the South Bay shores met for the women's beach volleyball title on a spot where Henry VIII once jousted.

Long Beach State sophomore setter Misty May was named Big West Conference volleyball player of the year Tuesday. May, the conference's freshman of the year last season, led the 49ers to a 32-2 regular-season record. May, from Newport Harbor High, ranked third in the Big West with 11.85 assists and was seventh in hitting percentage with a .315 mark. She also averaged 2.75 digs, 1.91 kills and 0.68 blocks a game.

For Misty May, that nagging abdominal strain just won't go away. Not the strain itself. That, she insists, is completely gone as she prepares to team with Kerri Walsh in the 2004 Olympic beach volleyball competition. It's fending off the constant media questions about the strain that has proved to be the bigger strain. "It can get annoying," May said, "but it was to be expected." That it was.

Misty May's list of accolades grew a little longer and a lot more impressive Monday night when she was named the winner of the 1998-99 Honda Broderick Cup, awarded to the nation's outstanding female collegiate athlete, at a dinner at Reno, Nev. The award, voted on by more than 900 schools and a national board of directors, caps off one of the most distinguished careers in collegiate women's volleyball.

WOMEN * OVERVIEW--Sometimes Misty May doesn't want to leave her house. And when she does, she inevitably gets badgered about her health. May, a 23-year-old beach volleyball dynamo from Costa Mesa, is trying to recover from a sports hernia injury that has bothered her since July. The constant queries about the injury might be an annoyance, but they pale in comparison to how she felt during an Olympic-qualifying tournament in Germany.

The match many beach volleyball fans have been waiting for will have to wait. That is, if it happens at all. The Olympic gold medal quest for Kerri Walsh and Misty May took a blow Saturday when an abdominal muscle strain forced May to withdraw from the Hermosa Beach Open just before the final, denying fans an anticipated showdown with Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs.

For the last two years, as she established herself as the nation's top collegiate indoor volleyball player, as she caused eyes to widen and hearts to beat faster with her creativeness, with her setting skills and her smoothness on the court, with her pizazz and her ponytail, Costa Mesa's Misty May kept taking the right steps forward and telling her heart to shut up. When May finished her Long Beach State eligibility, she did what was expected. This summer, May joined the U.S.

LONDON -- The serve of April Ross kept on going and going, landing long on match point. Kerri Walsh Jennings watched it hit the sand and thrust her arms in the air, child-like delight on her face on this electric night. Three-peat achieved. The enduring duo of Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor won gold for the third time, beating Ross and Jennifer Kessy, 21-16, 21-16, in the London Olympics women's beach volleyball final Wednesday. It was an all-American meeting, a volleyball finale that could have been played in Huntington Beach or Manhattan Beach, not London.

The deficits were there, overwhelmingly and stunningly. But Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings kept coming back and pulled out a 22-20, 22-20 victory in a beach volleyball semifinal Tuesday against China's Xue Chen and Zhang Xi at Horse Guards Parade. The U.S. was down quickly in the first set, 13-7, but Walsh Jennings began to assert herself, piling up four blocks and an ace. One of her blocks put the U.S. ahead, 21-20, and then Zhang hit into the net to end the set. PHOTOS: Day 11 Olympic highlights The U.S. took a 12-8 lead in the second set but couldn't keep it, finding itself down, 20-19.

LONDON -- Jennifer Kessy and April Ross were getting a little sick of this rivalry. Or non-rivalry. The U.S. team had played Brazil's Larissa Franca and Juliana Silva nine times before Tuesday night's women's beach volleyball Olympic semifinal. They had lost all nine. But on the 10th meeting, amid a steady supply of rain, a victory finally came for Kessy and Ross, 15-21, 21-19, 15-12, at Horse Guards Parade. Kessy and Ross will play the U.S. team of Misty May-Treanor  and Kerri Walsh-Jennings in the Olympic final Wednesday.

LONDON -- The United States has locked down at least one medal in women's beach volleyball, the color or colors to be determined, after two quarterfinal wins Sunday. Defending Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings quickly defeated Italians Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti in two sets, and Jennifer Kessy and April Ross beat the Czech Republic's Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova to advance to the semifinal round. The victories mean the American teams can finish no lower than third and fourth, ensuring the U.S. at least a bronze medal in the tournament at Horse Guards Parade.

The Dodgers' series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks wasn't the only game that was on backup catcher Matt Treanor's mind Monday. As his teammates dressed in the clubhouse, Treanor sat in front of his locker, staring at a computer. This is how Treanor is following his wife, beach volleyball star Misty May-Treanor , as she tries to win her third consecutive Olympic gold medal in London. May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh Jennings beat a Czech team, 21-14, 21-19.

The best players in the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals were keeping it light Sunday at the Long Beach Open, despite not knowing what would come next for their sport. Before her championship match against No. 4-seeded Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis, No. 2-seeded Misty May-Treanor did a small pirouette with the help of her partner, Nicole Branagh. Adding to the dance move was May-Treanor's bikini bottom, which was bright pink with a ruffled skirt. May-Treanor and Branagh won the match, 21-16, 21-19, for their first title since they opened the season with a win at Fort Lauderdale on April 18. "I'll have to get more skirts," May-Treanor said.

The results for Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor leading to the Beijing Olympics in August are beginning to look eerily similar to those during the run-up to their gold-medal run in Athens in 2004. Walsh and May-Treanor dominated the Hermosa Beach Open, losing only one game in six matches and finishing with a 21-16, 21-14 victory over Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan in Saturday's final.

Misty May, one half of the world's top-ranked women's beach volleyball team, withdrew from a tournament for the third time in four weeks as a pulled abdominal muscle continued to bother her, but she said Friday that the injury would not keep her out of the Olympics. May and partner Kerri Walsh have dominated the sport the last two years and are favored to win the gold medal in Athens next month.

The partnership of Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh is so new that they don't even have matching swimsuits. That didn't seem to be an issue when the two started out; May-Treanor, 32, has two Olympic gold medals and 106 first-place finishes to her name and Branagh, 31, has 15 AVP championships. The pairing of two veterans worked well, as they won at Fort Lauderdale, the first AVP event of the season, on April 18. It was the first time a pair had won their first domestic event together since 2002.

The new world order on the AVP Nivea Tour looks a lot like the old world order, but with a twist. Sure, there is still one dominant team destined to make a title run every time they step on the court, but that team is now Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers wreaking havoc in the men's bracket instead of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh on the women's side. And the women's side looks a lot like the men's did a few years ago — a parity-filled party filled with upsets and a pool of about six or seven teams that can win any week.