Misty May-Treanor Photo: Ed Chan

Kerri Walsh Jennings Photo: Brian White

The “ideal” gift for Walsh as she celebrated her 26th birthday Sunday was a healthy May as the pair looked like they had not missed a beat in playing their first match together in three weeks by defeating the Japanese 21-9 and 21-16 in 35 minutes at the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre.

“I am so glad that the Olympics have started good for us,” said a relieved Walsh, who won an international event two weeks ago in Austria with Rachel Wacholder as May was treated for her continuing abdominal strain problems. “The first set tonight was wonderful and in the second set, I made a couple mistakes. We still can do better.”

A 2003 FIVB World Champion with Walsh, May felt that her team “was able to push the ball around since the Japanese. The are a very good defensive team and we were able to catch them out-of-position a lot of times. It was fun playing our first game here in Athens. The crowd was fantastic and this venue is awesome.”

May and Walsh’s second pool play match is Tuesday at 9 p.m. against Rebekka Kadijk and Marrit Leenstra of the Netherlands. “Although everyone is listing us as one of the medal favourites, we need to take every match serious,” said Walsh. “The Dutch have defeated us before and are a very competitive team.”

The win by May and Walsh was the second Sunday by a team from the United States as Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger scored a Pool A men’s win over Australia’s Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack 22-24, 24-22 and 15-13 in 80 minutes. The USA has now won three of four pool play matches as Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs won and Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard was defeated Saturday.

Both of Saturday’s USA participants will play teams from Canada Monday. Blanton and Nygaard still have a chance to advance from Pool E to the 16-team elimination round with two more preliminary matches remaining starting with Monday at 4:30 p.m. meeting with John Child and Mark Heese. McPeak and Youngs face Guylaine Dumont and Annie Martin at 11 p.m. Here are the USA results and remaining pool play schedules.

Saturday, August 14
Holly McPeak/Elaine Youngs, def. Susanne Glesnes/Kathrine Maaseide, Norway, 21-14, 21-14 (38 minutes)
Julien Prosser/Mark Williams, Australia def. Dain Blanton/Jeff Nygaard, 21-16, 21-14 (42)

Sunday, August 15
Dax Holdren/Stein Metzger def. Andrew Schacht/Joshua Slack, Australia, 22-24, 24-22 and 15-13 (80)
Misty May/Kerri Walsh def. Chiaki Kusuhara/Ryo Tokuno, Japan, 21-9 and 21-16 (35)

Monday, August 16
4:30 p.m. - Blanton/Nygaard vs. John Child/Mark Heese, Canada
Tied 1-1
11 p.m. - McPeak/Youngs vs. Guylaine Dumont/Annie Martin, Canada
McPeak/Youngs lead 4-0

Tuesday, August 17
8 p.m. - Holdren/Metzger vs. Iver Horrem/Bjorn Maaseide, Norway
Horrem/Maaseide lead 1-0
9 p.m. - May/Walsh vs. Rebekka Kadijk/Marrit Leenstra, Netherlands
May/Walsh lead 4-1

Wednesday, August 18
12 p.m. - Blanton/Nygaard vs. Patrick Heuscher/Sefan Kobel, Switzerland
Heuscher/Kobel lead 2-0
8 p.m. - McPeak/Youngs vs. Nicole Schnyder /Simone Kuhn, Switzerland
Tied 1-1

Thursday August 19
8 p.m. - Holdren/Metzger vs. Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos, Brazil
Emanuel/Ricardo lead 2-1
9 p.m. - May/Walsh vs. Eva Celbova/Sona Novakova, Czech Republic
May/Walsh lead 4-0

~ Tim Simmons