Good afternoon or morning or evening or WHATEVER, beach volleyball fans,
Greetings from Adelaide, Australia, home of the World Championships and some of the wildest weather swings I’ve seen in quite some time. 80 and sunny on day one? Lovely. 45 and windy with sideways rain on day three? Interesting.
The weather swings were the harbinger to the madness that has indisputably descended upon Adelaide for the 2025 Beach Volleyball World Championships. Sunday’s first upset bids were ultimately snuffed — Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier were outlasted by Anders Mol and Christian Sorum, defending World Champs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner held on against Andy Benesh and Miles Partain, Giada Bianchi and Claudia Scampoli avoided a second upset by surviving against Susana Torres and Atenas Gutierrez, Timo Hammarberg and Tim Berger fended off another wildly athletic Cuban duo in Damian Gomez and Eblis Veranez, Argentina’s Capogrosso Brothers squeaked out a three-setter over Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett, and even Benin (Benin!) got in on the action by pushing Portugal’s Joao Pedrosa and Hugo Campos to three before ultimately bowing out.
Had a few of those gone the other way, Sunday in Adelaide would have been positively batty.
Alas, it took until the afternoon session for the upsets to reach maturity. Stefie Fejes and Jasmine Fleming delighted the home crowd in their victory over Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene and Aine Raupelyte, a must-win match that moved them out of pool and into the elimination rounds. Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno, after a less-than-dominant start to the week, dominated Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw to top pool. Shaunna Polley and Liv MacDonald, though not technically a home team, made this side of the world proud with their stunner over Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Reka Orsi Toth. Germany’s sensational youngsters, Melanie Paul and Lea Kunst, again proved sensational in a win over China’s Xinyi Xia and Xu Yan to top their pool.
And the best, of course, was reserved for last, as George and Saymon delivered Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig a second straight loss, likely sending the Swedes to the lucky loser rounds of the playoffs.
So, there’s that.
We have daily recaps and viewing guides with all of the time switches on our website, sandcastvolleyball.com. Here’s Monday’s — or Sunday, depending where you are — recap and guide.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured Kyle Friend and Daniel Freitas, our good friends and abundant contributors, chatting their new roles — Kyle as a coach and full-time commentator, Frito as our resident videographer and Beyond The Sand creator — and the importance of storytelling in sports. Fun one with the boys:
The Final World Champs Preview
Kyle Friend and I sat down just outside the venue, with the palatial Adelaide Convention Center in the background, to deliver the final World Champs preview, picking our dark horses — hello, Andre and Renato! — contenders and our favorites to win. Even though we’re well developed into the event, much of this is still more than relevant. Brush up:
News Around the Beach
- World Champs coverage abounds. The Beach Volleyball World Instagram page is humming, so make sure to give that a follow. We’re dropping daily recaps and key matchups every morning as well, which you can find on our website.
- AVP schedule drop! Earliest I’ve ever seen the AVP schedule announced. Good on them. And good on them for having 10-plus tournaments, with three biggies — Huntington Beach, a welcome back to longtime stop Belmar, and the MBO. We’ll be doing a full episode on this after World Champs, but you can see the schedule here. I see lots of positives.
- The best books I’ve ever read. I read a lot, and you know this. So I’ve compiled the best, most impactful and important books I’ve ever read in one constantly growing place. Check them out here.
- Watch SANDCAST Episodes Early! Become a member of our YouTube Channel and you’ll get every piece of content days or weeks or, now, months, even, before anybody else.
- Coming up on Wednesday we’ll have either me and Kyle Friend or me and Denise Austin chatting all things World Champs pool play and a look-ahead to the playoff rounds. However, I recorded one with Aussie Olympian Zach Schubert that you can already watch if you’re a member. It’ll drop mid-December for the non-members.
Much Love to the sponsors
We’ve been with Wilson Volleyball since day one, and we love the products they make — the best ball on the market, hands down, no questions asked. Use our discount code: SANDCAST-20 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Watch VBTV for 10 percent off using our discount code, SANDCAST10.
We’ve got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
SANDCAST adds another year with AG1. One of our longest-running sponsors, AG1, is back on the pod for another year. We’ve re-signed with the brand, and have changed our model with them, to a fully affiliate-model. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
We’re officially partnered with Better at Beach! If you want to get Better at Beach, use our code SANDCAST for 10 percent off all of their products, from online classes to in-person camps and more.
SHIELD is the new presenting sponsor of our Beach Access episodes following Elite tournaments. Get yourself some athletic tape that actually works, and use the code SANDCAST to get a little discount.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
