Wacholder/Youngs upset May-Treanor/Walsh In Final

First career team win snaps 50-match, 10-tournament win streak 

By Ed Letsinger

All good things must come to an end and that is what happened on Saturday afternoon at the AVP Nissan Series Cincinnati Open where Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder upset Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in an exciting three-game championship final before a packed and rowdy house at Lindner Family Tennis Center.

With the victory, Youngs/Wacholder collected their first team win together and in the process snapped a 50-match, 10-tournament winning streak by May-Treanor/Walsh that started in September 2004.

“We had to play our best game to win today and that’s what we did,” said Youngs.  “They had their winning streak but I’ve been carrying a streak of second place finishes to them for something like the last 20 matches (18 officially) so I feel 100 pounds lighter getting that off my back.”

The athletic Wacholder/Youngs team, seeded No. 2, pressured top-seeded May-Treanor/Walsh from start to finish and said they used their athleticism to their advantage and focused their serves on Walsh, who had trouble at times handling them.

“We were looking for a chink in the armor and we saw some vulnerability today,” said Youngs.  “We made them work for everything they got and I don’t think they are used to that kind of pressure.”

May-Treanor/Walsh took the first game 21-17 but it was tight throughout; with no lead larger than three points.  Walsh scored the last three points on a block, kill and serve to close out the game.

Wacholder and Youngs both said they still felt confident down 0-1 and they fought back to win game two, 22-20, with Wacholder getting the final two points on a power kill and nice drop shot to force a third game.

The championship game was a classic, with the lead exchanging on almost every serve.  Neither team led by more than one point until Wacholder/Youngs edged ahead at 14-12.  A Walsh kill cut the score to 14-13 but Youngs responded and ended the match with an exclamation point on a kill for a 15-13 win.

“We were just aggressive and athletic,” said Wacholder on the keys to victory.  “We’re both physical players and that worked for us today.”

Not only was the win the first for the Wacholder/Youngs duo but they also walked away with the first place prize of $28,000 and double championship points as part of the new Championship Series on the AVP Tour.

For May-Treanor and Walsh, it’s time to re-group.  Not only had the pair come to town unbeaten, they had lost only two games the entire season in winning the first five tournaments.  Today, they struggled past Holly McPeak and Jennifer Kessy in three games (21-19, 19-21, 15-12) in the semifinals before losing the title match.

“You win some and you lose some,” said a philosophical May-Treanor.  “Everybody keeps talking about the streak but that’s the least of our worries.  We’ve been playing well but we made more mistakes today than they did today and that was the difference.”  Added Walsh: “We’re pretty upset but that’s just the nature of sports.  You hate to lose but we’ll learn from this and move on.”