RIO de JANEIRO, Brazil -- Former Stanford and Archbishop Mitty star Kerri Walsh and her partner, Misty May, capped their incredible 2003 season Sunday, winning the FIVB World Beach Volley Championship with a 2-0 victory over the legendary Brazilian dou of two-time world champions Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede.

The American duo claimed their fifth title on the 2003 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as May and Walsh scored a 21-19 and 21-19 victory to close a season where they lost just four of 52 matches against international competition. All four losses were to teams from Brazil, including three to Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires Tavares and one to Behar and Bede in the bronze medal match in Germany.

May and Walsh finished the season 4-3 against Ana Paula and Sandra Pires and 4-1 against Bede and Behar.

"We woke up this morning very excited about playing and looking forward to a great match – they (Adriana and Shelda) always challenge us and today was no different," said Walsh. "We were down pretty much all the way through both sets but just managed to pull it off at the end."

May and Walsh split $60,000 Sunday while Behar and Bede shared $40,000. With the world championship payout, May and Walsh finished the international season by winning $192,000 overall. Combined with their domestic play on the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour, May and Walsh won 13 titles at 16 events with a 91-4 match mark and $395,100 in combined earnings. The pair won their last 52 matches this season, including 28-straight internationally.

"We just managed to squeak out a victory in the end," May said. "They (Adriana and Shelda) have always been our mentors and we look up to them every time we play them. We've been going now for nine months, so we'll take a short break now before starting to train again for next season."

Sunday's title was their fourth gold medal in succession on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for May and Walsh and compliments their remarkable performance on the American domestic circuit during which they posted a perfect 39-0 match record to win eight titles and $143,100 in earnings. While May was winning her 25th pro beach title Sunday, Walsh was collecting her 20th.

Since forming their partnership in 2001, May and Walsh have now won 20 titles together in 37 career starts together with 29 podium places and 31 final four finishes.

The $701,990 in career earnings ranks second all-time behind Behar and Bede's $1,610,815. May and Walsh have posted a career match mark of 198-27 (87.5 percent), including 153-25 on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

May and Walsh also erased the memory of their ninth-place finish at the 2001 World Championships in Austria when the United States failed to place a team on the podium.

Since the FIVB reestablished the World Championships in 1997, the Brazilian women have won the previous three titles. The USA tandems of Lisa Arce-Holly McPeak and Annett Davis-Jenny Johnson Jordan won silver medals in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs captured a bronze medal in 1999.

In Sunday's bronze medal match, Natalie Cook and Nicole Sanderson of Australia scored a 21-16 and 21-17 triumph over Johnson Jordan and Davis.

May and Walsh's three previous FIVB victories were secured in the grand slam events in France, Austria and Los Angeles three weeks ago. The pair also won June's Swiss Open in Gstaad.

From their eight events on the 2003 SWATCH-FIVB World Tour, May and Walsh finished no lower than fourth and also collected one bronze and a silver to go with their haul of five gold medals. They finished the season in second place on the FIVB world tour rankings behind Ana Paula and Sandra Pires, who played 10 World Tour events to the Americans' eight.

"Now we'll take a brief rest and then come out and start training really hard," Walsh said. "We want to be as prepared as we can for next season and the Olympic Games in Athens."