Time Off Doesn’t Hurt May-Walsh at Hermosa

Misty May and Kerri Walsh played together for the first time in a month, but it was business as usual Friday for the world’s top-ranked women’s beach volleyball team.

May and Walsh cruised through the first day of the Hermosa Beach Open, an Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Nissan Series event, with three victories and advanced to today’s fourth round.

The good start was important because it was May’s first competition since June 23. She has been resting and rehabilitating a strained abdominal muscle.

“We were a little rusty, but overall we played really well,” Walsh said. “Misty was a little frustrated because she wants to be pounding the ball, but that will come.”

They didn’t need it Friday. They defeated Paola Rodriguez and Stacy Rouwenhorst, 21-12, 21-9, in the first round; Courtney Guerra and Brooke Niles, 21-10, 21-9, in the second round and Tammy Leibl and Sarah Straton, 21-11, 21-17, in the third. Their longest match lasted 37 minutes. Their team chemistry “was great,” Walsh said. “We didn’t skip a beat.”

May and Walsh will play fourth-seeded Barb Fontana and Jennifer Kessey today with a spot in the final four on the line.

Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs, who will join May and Walsh as U.S. representatives in the Olympics next month, also had first-day success. They did not give up more than 13 points in any of their three victories.

They will play Tyra Harper and Markare Wilson for a berth in the final four. Today’s women’s final has been moved up half an hour to 1 p.m.

Third-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan suffered the biggest upsets of the day on the women’s side. They were eliminated after losing, 25-23, 24-22, to sisters Katie and Tracy Lindquist in the second round and then 19-21, 21-17, 15-12 to Lisa Arce and Leanne McSorley in the third round.

In the men’s tournament, top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Mike Lambert lost their second-round match, 16-21, 21-18, 15-9, to Philip Dalhausser and Nick Lucena. Kiraly has not fully recovered from a dislocated shoulder he incurred two weeks ago at a tournament in New Jersey.

The men’s Olympic teams had mixed results. Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard made it through their two matches unscathed -- knocking off defending champions Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis, 21-19, 21-15 -- but, like Lewis and Ayakatubby, Stein Metzger and Dax Holdren must play through the contenders’ bracket after a 21-17, 25-23 loss to Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer.