Shining from the sand

The reigning and unrivaled queen of beach volleyball said she heard a pop when she ruptured her left Achilles tendon while rehearsing for “Dancing with the Stars” on Oct. 3.

The injury, which forced the Newport Harbor High alumna to withdraw from the television show and sidelined her for the 2009 Assn. of Volleyball Professionals season, was about the only misstep she made during a prolific 2008 that included capturing her second Olympic gold medal in Beijing.

Misty May-Treanor and partner Kerri Walsh, who enhanced their already considerable worldwide athletic profile by dominating the competition in China to defend the gold medal they won in Athens in 2004, won 112 straight matches from Aug. 19, 2007 to Sept. 1, 2008.

During that time, they solidified their place as the best team to ever play women’s beach volleyball, and May-Treanor added to her all-time lead in AVP Tour victories. The streak also included 19 straight tournament wins.

The streak-ending loss in Mason, Ohio, the first AVP event after the Olympics, began a two-tournament stretch in which May-Treanor and Walsh did not win a tournament. But they recaptured their form to win in Manhattan Beach in the final team event of the AVP season. They also captured the AVP Crocs Cup, presented annually to the season’s best team.

May-Treanor’s Olympic success led to television appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Today Show,” “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” as well as the aforementioned “Dancing with the Stars.”

May-Treanor said she had secretly coveted an opportunity to unleash her athleticism on the dance floor, and those who recall her as a budding superstar while growing up in Costa Mesa said her ebullient personality and propensity for being a ham would put her in good stead on the popular program.

May-Treanor and dance partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy had, in fact, scored 21 out of a possible 30 in their first three routines on the show, impressing the judges with their version of the fox trot and the mambo.

May-Treanor, married to Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, had successful surgery to repair her Achilles on Oct. 7.

She and Walsh had already mentioned plans to cut back on competing in 2009 while they started families.