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Olympics: Misty stays perfect

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Misty May-Treanor, the former Newport Harbor High standout who grew up in Costa Mesa, along with Kerri Walsh Jennings opened the first round of single elimination with a resounding 21-13, 21-12 victory in 30 minutes against Marleen Van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of Netherlands in women’s beach volleyball at the London Olympics.

May-Treanor and Walsh, the two-time defending Olympic gold medalists and the No. 3 seeds, advanced to the quarterfinals and remained undefeated at 4-0. They will play Italy’s No. 7 Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti in the quarterfinals Sunday at 11 a.m. PST.

April Ross, also a former Newport Harbor standout who grew up in Costa Mesa, and Jennifer Kessy, seeded No. 4, will face No. 10 Marketa Slukova and Kristyna Kolocova of Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 2 p.m.

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May-Treanor led with 16 kills, while Walsh Jennings had four blocks.

May-Treanor had 11 of the team’s 14 digs. Netherlands had 13 digs.

May-Treanor and Walsh took advantage of 15 team errors by the Netherlands while committing only five.

“This is the Kerri and Misty that people come to see that we want to play like,” May-Treanor told usavolleyball.org. “We just keep elevating each match we’re out there.”

— From staff reports

MEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Jake Gibb, a Costa Mesa resident, and Sean Rosenthal, a Corona del Mar resident, defeated Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Serguei Prokopiev, 21-14, 22-20, on Saturday to advance to the men’s beach volleyball quarterfinals at the London Olympics.

Gibb and Rosenthal, who are seeded No. 4 in the tournament and are competing in the second Olympic Games after finishing fifth in Beijing, will play against Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins of Latvia Monday at 11 a.m. PST.

Gibb and Rosenthal improved to 3-1 and eliminated the Russian pair.

Gibb had 16 kills, while Rosenthal added 13.

Gibb said the team tried to play the net aggressively.

“We had a good game plan just coming out and being aggressive with our setting and I guess it paid off in the first set,” Gibb told usavolleyball.org.

— From staff reports

WOMEN’S HEPTATHLON

Sharon Day, a former Costa Mesa High standout, finished 16th in the women’s heptathlon at the London Olympics, with 6,232 points, the highest among the two Americans in the competition.

She competed in three events Saturday. She finished 13th in the long jump 19 feet, 2 inches (5.85 meters), 10 inches less than her personal best.

Day finished fifth in the javelin 144 feet (43.90 meters) to earn 742 points and put her 17th in the standings.

She closed out the competition with a personal best in the 800 meters, finishing third in her heat in 2 minutes, 11.31 seconds and collected 946 points.

Jessica Ennis of Great Britain won the heptathlon with 6,955 points.

Day scored 6,343 points for her personal best at the Olympic Trials June 30.

— From staff reports

MEN’S WATER POLO

The U.S. men’s water polo team lost its first game of the London Olympics, falling to Serbia, 11-6.

The men’s water polo team features former UC Irvine All-Americans Ryan Bailey, Jeff Powers and Tim Hutten, as well as former Corona del Mar High standout John Mann and Newport Harbor High boys’ head coach Robert Lynn, an assistant on the U.S. staff.

All three UC Irvine alums scored goals. Bailey led Team USA with two goals, Powers and Hutten added one each.

Bailey has scored nine goals in four games, including eight in the last three. The four-time All-American at UCI and 1998 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year is one of the first two male athletes (along with Azevedo) in USA Water Polo history to compete in four Olympics.

Powers is making his third appearance in the Olympics and Hutten his second. Both All-Americans during their UCI careers, they were members of the 2008 American squad that won silver in Beijing.

Hutten was the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Peter J. Cutino Award given annually to the top player in the NCAA.

The loss drops Team USA to 3-1 in pool play as they ready for Hungary on Monday at 7:30 a.m. PST. The match is scheduled to air live on NBC on delay in the west at 9:30 a.m. Despite the loss, Team USA has still clinched a spot in the quarterfinal round with seeding to be determined.

— From staff reports

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

The U.S. men’s volleyball team, which includes former UC Irvine players Brian Thornton and David Smith, lost to No. 2 Russia, 27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 25-16, 15-8, on Saturday after it held a match point in the third set in a Pool B match during the Olympic Games.

The U.S., the No. 5 team in the world and defending Olympic Games champions, falls to 3-1 in Pool B with 10 standings points heading into its final preliminary match against winless Tunisia on Monday at noon PST.

The Americans, who had its 11-match Olympic Games win streak dating back to the 2008 Beijing Games snapped, can still win Pool B with either a three- or four-set victory over Tunisia.

— From staff reports

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

The U.S. women’s water polo team, which includes backup goalie Tumua Anae (Corona del Mar High), will face Italy on Sunday in a quarterfinal Sunday at 11 a.m. PST.

The match, featuring the second placed team from Group A (USA) and the third placed team from Group B (ITA) will air live on NBC on delay on the west coast at 2 p.m.

Dan Klatt, the UC Irvine women’s team head coach, is an assistant on the USA staff.

— From staff reports

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