The USA women may not have come home from Brasilia with a gold medal in hand, but they were by far the strongest team in the tournament this past weekend. American women took 2nd, 3rd and 4th at the first FIVB Tour stop with a great comeback performance from Misty and Kerri who finished second to World No. 1 Brazilians Larissa and Juliana.

Two American pairs fought it out for the bronze with Jen Kessy and April Ross winning out over the upstart team of Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Hanson. Fendrick and Hanson had to beat No. 2 Xue and Zhang Xi of China and No. 4 Goller and Ludwig of Germany just to get there. But the semifinal wasn't the only match in which Americans were forced to take each other out of the tournament. Kessy and Ross took out new American pair Nicole Branagh and Angie Akers in the loser's bracket on their way to the semifinals, handing them their second loss and a ninth place finish.

Akers and Branagh were dealt their first loss in the third round to Germans Goller and Ludwig. Overall it was a fantastic opening weekend for the American women and it means the Olympic qualification spots are going to be extremely hard fought. No shoe-ins, no easy matches, just as it should be.

On the men's side, Phil and Todd picked up where they left off by winning yet another gold medal. They beat Brazilians Emanuel and Alison in two sets. The match lasted only 35 minutes and the second set was a rout - 21-13.

The next closest American team was Fuerbringer and Lucena who finished in fifth after a three set loss to Brazilians Ricardo and Marcio Araujo. Patterson and Keenan earned a ninth, Gibb and Rosenthal finished 17th and Jennings and Wong finished 25th.

The women are starting up again this week in Sanya, China while the men have a week off before they pick it up again in Shanghai.

For those of you who were holding out hope that long-time Olympian Lloy Ball was going to ride back in on his white horse and save the men's national team from their setting dysfunction, you can officially let go of the fantasy.

Tough for me to say because I count myself among you. I was really hoping that he could find it in his knees to stick around just a little bit longer and play some sort of leadership role, if not the starting setter role in London. Yes, I realize he'll be 40 in 2012, but the current setters could certainly use one last glance at his experience and talent to guide them toward that Lloy-less future we know is coming eventually.

But alas, the future is now. Lloy is retiring after this season with his pro team in Russia. He says he's playing through pain and needs knee surgery. He plans to take a year off and think about what's next.

I suppose all hope is not lost. Retirement doesn't come easy for most of the great ones. Lloy would not be the first elite athlete to "retire" and then dust off the shoes for one more shot at glory. He could join the ranks of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Evander Holyfield, George Foreman, Lance Armstrong, and the ever-present Brett Favre among those who just couldn't quite let it go despite their best efforts.

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I was wrong. I predicted no surprises for last week's quarterfinals and in fact, there were several. Who'd have guessed that both No. 2 and No. 3 would go down in the first round of the playoffs out west and that No. 3 would bow out in the Midwest as well? I didn't.

But here we are with some unexpected teams making the cut to semifinals. The most surprising of last weekend's upsets was the No. 2 BYU's loss to No. 7 UCSB in four sets. Seems the Cougars could never get a rhythm going while a pressure-free UCSB fought hard against them. UCSB had beaten both BYU and Stanford once during the regular season, but they lost twice to Long Beach who they'll meet next in the semis.

Long Beach has had Stanford's number all year, managing to beat them both times in the regular season. This third win was a tough one - five sets, 15-13 in the fifth. But Long Beach pulled it out in the end on a ball hit long by Spencer McLachlin. LBSU is my pick for their third win over Santa Barbara this weekend.

The match of the week ahead is USC-UCI. UCI is still hot and they took care of a solid Hawaii team in three sets last week. I still have to go with the Trojans here, but I think this could be a great match. With No. 2 and No. 3 out in the first round, the at-large berth to the Final Four becomes a little less predictable. Will they bring back one of the top teams or reward a good performance in the conference playoffs? Depending on the rest of the MPSF tourney, it seems that one could make a good argument for any one of several teams to get the nod this year.

Ball State's early exit was the final surprise of last weekend's matches. They lost in four to No. 6 Quincy with a 26-24 final set score. Quincy will go up against Loyola-Chicago in the semis. In the Midwest and the East the No. 1 teams will go into action as Ohio State takes on Lewis and Penn State faces Rutgers-Newark. Check out the rest of the playoff schedule and scores from last week's matches here.

It has been a long time coming, but beach volleyball is finally underway for 2011. The FIVB Tour kicked off for both the men and women in Brasilia and American teams are faring well right out of the starting gate.

American women had the most teams through to the third round with Walsh/May-Treanor, Akers/Branagh and a surprise performance by Americans Lauren Fendrick and Ashley Ivy who had to work their way into the main draw through the country quota. Kerri and Misty went three sets in the first round against their Brazilian opponent, but beat a Chinese pair 2-0 in the second round to advance.

Last year's top American team, Jen Kessy and April Ross, fell into the consolation bracket after an uncharacteristic first round loss to Australians Bawden/Palmer in two sets. Kessy and Ross have been fighting their way back with two subsequent wins and will face a German pair today.

The men's main draw begins today with five American pairs in the mix - Rogers/Dalhausser, Fuerbringer/Lucena, Jennings/Wong, Gibb/Rosenthal and Patterson/Keenan.

The tournament concludes on Friday for the women and on Saturday for the men. No word yet on when or if the FIVB Tour will air on American television. Our computers may be our only contact with the beach volleyball world for a little while. When that changes, I'll let you know.