May-Treanor: The Best Volleyball Player

Misty May-Treanor, who was born on July 30, 1977, started playing volleyball at an extremely young age; in fact, she competed with her dad at her first beach volleyball tournament when she was eight years old (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015). Growing up in Los Angeles on Santa Monica Beach, Misty had very athletic parents, who helped her to become one of the greatest volleyball players in history (Achilles, 2015). Misty’s mom Barbara was a former nationally ranked tennis player, and her dad, Robert “Butch” May was a member of the 1968 U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team (Biography.com Editors, n.d.). While Misty was at Newport Harbor High School, she helped her indoor volleyball team win two state championships during the 1992 and 1994 seasons

Misty earned her spot as the starting setter during her freshman year and later became captain (Achilles, 2015). In 1998, Misty had an incredible season, leading her team to an undefeated season and a National Championship (Achilles, 2015). After the thrilling come-from-behind championship victory, Misty became very famous. She was awarded first-team All-American honors, 1998 NCAA Player of the Year, Top Female Collegiate Athlete, and Most Outstanding Player in the championship game (Evans & Gjerde & Heijmans & Mallon, n.d. and Achilles,

They swept through unchallenged and won gold over Brazil in the finals, becoming the first American female tandem to win gold in beach volleyball (Biography.com Editors, 2015). After winning gold, May married Major League Baseball player Matt Treanor in November of 2004. Walsh-Jennings and May-Treanor continued playing together and captured two more world titles in 2005 and 2007. Between the 2004 and 2008, Misty and Kerri held a 112 match winning-streak; however, it “came to an end when they lost to Olympic teammates Elaine Young and Nicole Branagh. This also ended the pair’s streak of 19-straight titles” (Encyclopedia Britannica,