May-Treanor/Walsh 

As we ring in the New Year, some things stay the same.

Misty May-Treanor received yet another title Saturday morning: Newport-Mesa Sports Story of the Decade. Read more from the Daily Pilot here.

Just before the New Year, Universal Sports named May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh the best team of the 2000s. Also last month, Sports Illustrated named May-Treanor and Walsh the No. 2 Olympic women of the 2000s and No. 10 female athletes of the decade.

Germany

2009 men’s FIVB World Championship winners and FIVB World Tour champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann finished fifth in voting for Germany's Team of the Year.

On their way to becoming only the fourth non-Brazilian men’s team to win the international tour’s championship, Brink and Reckermann set an FIVB record for most consecutive match wins (25) and finished the season by winning four of the last six tournaments. Brink and Reckermann’s accomplishments were the best-ever by a German men’s or women’s team in the 23-season history of the international circuit.

Learn more about Germany’s top beach tandem in their profile with AVP.com.

Asian Volleyball Confederation

At Holiday Beach in Haikou, capital of China’s southern island province of Hainan, Olympic bronze medal winners Xue Chen/Zhang Xi defeated Chinese compatriots Jin Jieqiong and Yue Yuan 21-18, 21-11 to win the women’s 2009 Asian Beach Volleyball Championships Dec. 26.

“We have become more mature in our teamwork throughout matches these days,” said Zhang, reflecting on this tournament being her first competitive appearance with Xue since the Beijing Olympics. Xue said she is not sure whether she will partner with Zhang at the 2010 Asian Games, but expects a team from China to successfully defend their title.

Two Japanese teams vied for third place, with Mutsumi Ozaki/Ayumi Kusano earning the bronze by sweeping Shinako Tanaka/Sayaka Mizoe 21-17, 21-19.

In the men’s final, top seeds Penggen Wu/Linyin Xu of China crushed sixth-seeded Alexey Kulinich/Dmitriy Yakovlev of Kazakhstan 21-11, 21-13 to win gold.

In the men’s third-place match, Kentaro Asahi/Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan defeated Kazakhstan’s Alexandr Dyachenko/Alexey Sidorenko 21-13, 17-21, 15-10 to claim bronze.

The Asian Beach Championships started Dec. 23 and included 43 teams from 15 countries in the region.