Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season begins in earnest this week, with the opening Challenge of the season, in Bhubaneswar, India. At no point in the process did the entry list feature an elite field relative to Challenges in, say, Europe, in the middle of summer. As I detailed awhile back when explaining how to build points on the Beach Pro Tour, it’s best for up-and-comers to hit events in Asia or locations that are a little less desirable than a Vienna or Alanya, where the entry list will be light, to build their points.
I can’t remember an entry list lighter than this: just 12 teams in the men’s qualifier, and eight in the women’s, with many of the typically strong Challenge teams sitting out. If you’re a player who gripes about it being difficult to build points, there is no ground to stand on, unless…
You can’t get into the country.
More than two dozen players were denied visas into India. Almost all of them were players who had competed in India in 2024 and applied for a tourist visa, but then played, and did “business” there, so technically needed a business visa (I’ve done this quite a few times, as tourist visas tend to be easier to get and sometimes several hundreds of dollars cheaper and just sort of hope nobody finds out). So what was already a light entry list is now almost a Futures level tournament with Challenge money and Challenge points.
For Sara Hughes and Ally Batenhorst, the one seed — Batenhorst has had her suspension lifted, as whatever prescription drug she was popped for in Newport now has the green light — it’s a huge chance to hop, skip, and jump their way up the world rankings. Here’s the women’s entry list, and here’s the men’s, where the U.S. has TWO teams in the top-six.
I’ll be following closely, as our ones at Florida State, Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, are the 15 seed in the main draw.
Moving on.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week was a BLAST for me to record, as I got to sit down with Dr. Nate Zinsser, the author of one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read, The Confident Mind. Can’t remember a podcast I was more excited to record, and I cannot recommend it enough.
News Around the Beach
- The ultimate 2026 beach volleyball calendar. We dropped every event you need to know, right here, and, when we knew this information, where to watch. Bookmark this page.
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Your NCAA Beach Volleyball report, Week 2.
- Arizona State is the new Queen of the Big 12. A week ago, they toppled defending NCAA Champ TCU, as well as No. 13 GCU. They added two more ranked wins, over No. 19 Georgia State and No. 20 Arizona, and are the undefeated leaders of the Big 12.
- TCU then handed us (FSU) our first loss. Fun one at home, but we lost 3-2 to the Frogs, and now there’s quite the logjam in the Big 12 between Arizona State, TCU, and us.
- Washington landed a massive win over LSU. One of the bigger wins in recent memory for the Huskies, and a big one in Steve McFadden’s interim year as head coach. But that win did come on the heels of a loss to UAB, who I thought was scrappy when we played them, after UAB lost to North Alabama in week one. The transitive property is already strong in the NCAA.
- USC, UCLA separate themselves from Cal Poly in a crowded California. Four of the top-five teams in the NCAA hail from, surprise surprise, California. But USC and UCLA separated themselves from a talented Cal Poly team with wins over the Mustangs. It’s just a brawl every weekend in California.
- A bunch of other stuff happened, and you can find all the scores at CollegeVB.com, who is doing the Lord’s work for the sport.
- 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. We have several scheduled for y’all, including this week’s episode with Maddie Anderson, and podcasts with Troy Field and Miles Evans.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have the aforementioned Maddie Anderson, a second-year pro who stopped by Florida State to talk life as a professional beach volleyball player, transitioning from NCAA to pros, and a whole lot more. It’s already up for our YouTube members to watch.
Much Love to the sponsors
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Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
