May-Treanor to Play with Branagh in 2010

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jan. 5, 2010) – Two-time beach volleyball Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor has announced on her web site that she will partner with Olympian Nicole Branagh for the 2010 season.

“Nicole is such a dynamic player, it is going to be fun,” May-Treanor wrote.

May-Treanor (Costa Mesa, Calif.) won her two Olympic gold medals – in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) – with Kerri Walsh (Saratoga, Calif.), who announced in December that she is pregnant with her second child, which is due at the end of May.

Both May-Treanor and Walsh sat out the beginning of the 2009 beach volleyball season. May-Treanor recovered from a torn Achilles tendon suffered while practicing for the TV show Dancing with the Stars. Walsh gave birth to her first child with husband Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Calif.) in May of 2009.

Walsh returned to the AVP Tour in August and played with Rachel Wacholder (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Holly McPeak (Manhattan Beach, Calif.). Walsh and May-Treanor reunited in September for the AVP World Challenge: USA vs. Brazil, where they finished second to Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta and Larissa Franca.

Branagh (Orinda, Calif.) finished fifth at the 2008 Olympic Games with Elaine Youngs (El Toro, Calif.), whom she first paired with in 2006. In 2009, the team won nine AVP tournaments and finished second in four others. They also medaled at two FIVB tournaments and finished fifth at the FIVB World Championship in Stavager, Norway.

Youngs has not announced whom she will play with in 2010.

Tags: Beach Volleyball, Elaine Youngs, Kerri Walsh, Misty May-Treanor, Nicole Branagh