Familiar team earns two titles

Much of Manhattan Beach was still having breakfast Saturday when top-ranked Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh succumbed to the unusual: They lost a match.

But you get a second chance in AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, and the Olympic gold medalists stormed back to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Manhattan Beach Open and their third consecutive AVP Crocs Cup Championship.

May-Treanor and Walsh outlasted the fourth-ranked team of Jennifer Boss and April Ross -- the same pair that beat them in the morning -- in a 21-18, 21-16 final and collected a record $100,000 first prize in the AVP’s final team event of the year.

“It’s been a great run [this season] and to finish on top feels great,” said May-Treanor. “We were hungry for the victory here.”

The win capped another remarkable season for Walsh and May-Treanor, who also is among the celebrities appearing on the “Dancing With the Stars” television contest this fall.

Besides winning Olympic gold for the second time in Beijing last month, they also won 12 of the 17 events on the AVP’s Crocs Tour.

But they started slowly Saturday, losing their morning match to Boss and Ross, 24-22, 15-21, 15-11.

Suddenly, pro volleyball’s best faced elimination before the semifinals if they lost a second time, which has never happened to May-Treanor and Walsh since they became a team in 2001.

But with May-Treanor spiking the ball much more aggressively than she did Friday, the pair beat Lauren Fendrick and Paula Roca with identical 21-14 scores.

In the semifinals, they knocked off third-ranked Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 21-11, 21-18.

That set up the final match with Boss and Ross, who had defeated second-ranked Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs to reach the deciding match.

The final’s first set was a taut match that May-Treanor won with a hard spike for the 21st point, but the team also benefited from Walsh’s height as the 6-foot-3 Santa Clara native blocked several shots at the net.

“This is very deep sand here” so the height advantage “always helps,” Walsh said.

May-Treanor and Walsh took an early lead in the second set, aided by an ace serve by May-Treanor, and never surrendered the advantage.

“We were trying to peak for this point and we did, we just didn’t happen to win in the final,” Boss said. “When that team starts to play really well, it’s tough to beat them.”

The men’s closing rounds are today, and the finalists include reigning Crocs Cup champs Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, who also won gold medals in Beijing and are seeking their third consecutive win in Manhattan Beach.

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james.peltz@latimes.com