SANTA BARBARA -- At some point, the AVP Crocs Tour is going to have to learn about life without Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

The tour's most popular players -- in large part to their consecutive Olympic gold medals -- plan on having children in the near future and would have to miss significant playing time.

So consider the final at the Santa Barbara Open Sunday a dress rehearsal.

For only the third time since joining the tour full time in 2003, May-Treanor and Walsh were knocked out of the tournament before the championship match as Jennifer Boss and April Ross upended the Golden Girls, 21-18, 15-21, 20-18 in the semifinals.

Boss and Ross went on to lose in the final, dropping a 21-16, 24-22 decision to Jenny Johnson Jordan and Annett Davis, but the buzz of the tournament was the shocking loss of May-Treanor and Walsh.

"Other people get shocked when we lose, but I don't," May-Treanor said. "It's the nature of sports. Other teams are getting better and they're playing well. You come out here and everybody wants to win so it's no surprise that we get beat, I don't think."

The last time May-Treanor and Walsh failed to make a final was in Miami in 2007. The only other time was in Manhattan Beach in 2004.

The semifinal loss continued a recent trend in which May-Treanor and Walsh were unable to hold a big lead. They led, 7-3, in the third game, but Boss and Ross closed strong for the victory.

In Saturday's third round, they nearly blew a 9-2 lead against Davis and Johnson Jordan. Last week in Cincinnati, they blew a 13-8 lead in Game 3 of the final against Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh and lost, ending a 112-match win streak.

"I think just emotionally we're drained," May-Treanor said. "It's been a long season and we haven't had too many weekends off."

The stunning loss overshadowed a solid effort by Davis and Johnson Jordan, who won for the second time this season and for the 11th time as a team. They defeated second-seeded Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs in the semifinals before the finals victory over Boss and Ross.

And neither was all that disappointed that they didn't have to face May-Treanor and Walsh in the final.

"I think any time you beat Misty and Kerri, it's the top of the top," Johnson Jordan said. "But they weren't our opponents today, Boss and Ross were and we wanted to beat them as badly as anyone else."

Losing in the finals took a lot of wind out of the sails of Boss and Ross, who were sky high after their upset in the semifinals.

"I could care less who we beat in the semifinal if we don't finish it off in the final," Boss said. "Everyone thinks it's great that we beat Kerri and Misty, but to me it's terrible that we came out and lost the final."

Boss credited Davis and Johnson Jordan, saying "they played a perfect match," but also acknowledged the energy it took to take down May-Treanor and Walsh took a toll.

"We just didn't have anything left," she said. "We played a gnarly game against Kerri and Misty and just didn't have anything left emotionally."

Davis and Johnson Jordan plan to savor this victory, especially considering their 12-year partnership may soon come to an end. Johnson Jordan recently moved to Pittsburgh and is considering retirement after this season, but said winning "Makes that decision harder."

"We're having the best year we've had in a long time, so I really don't know what is going to happen," she said. "We've always just taken it one year at a time so we'll make that decision in the off season."

Davis said she has no plans to retire and would have to find a new partner for the first time if Johnson Jordan walks away. The two have played only with each other throughout their careers.

"It's not time to make that decision yet," Davis said. "We'll see in the off season."

For now, she just wanted to relish the victory.

"It's super exciting," she said. "Very satisfying."