Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
Confession: I typically don’t like to lean on the March Madness cliched headlines and copy. Just feels lazy. So, given the above headline, I both repent and, in the words of the great Conor McGregor, apologize to absolutely nobody.
Because the first Challenge of the Beach Pro Tour season, in Bhubaneswar, India — bonus points if you can pronounce it correctly! — was positively mad. First, there was the entry list, which was dismally light. Then there were the visa problems that blocked more than two dozen players from entering the country, dropping the entry list further. Throw in a burgeoning war in the Middle East, travel disruptions, and what you got was an event that, if you simply signed up on the women’s side, you were basically guaranteed a ninth. A ninth! With ninth-place Challenge points and ninth-place Challenge prize money! All without serving or passing or hitting a single ball.
But wait, there’s more.
Because in the semifinals, there was our court one pair at Florida State, Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, down 13-9 to Sara Hughes and Ally Batenhorst in the third set — down but not out. Somehow, they pulled off the stunner, ripping off a 7-1 run to win, 16-14, upsetting the No. 1 seeds. They followed it up with a sweep over Japan’s Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami in the finals to win gold in their first Challenge, making their run of international play five medals in five events.
They’re very good.
So, yes, madness fits the bill this week, and I broke it all down on our first Beach Access episode of the year here, including looks at Hughes and Batenhorst and their quick improvement, Evan Cory and Derek Bradford’s fifth, and a disappointing BBQ from Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst.
Moving on.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week featured Beach Pro Tour sophomore, and Florida State’s all-time wins leader, Maddie Anderson, as we sat in front of our courts and chatted her transition from NCAA stardom to the highest levels of professional beach volleyball. It was excellent, and one I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.
NCAA –> Pro
We’re asked a lot on our mailbag episodes how players can begin building points on the AVP and Beach Pro Tour and effectively turn professional. Maddie Anderson dished on exactly that, and why competing professionally while you’re still in college is the wya to go.
News Around the Beach
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Your NCAA Beach Volleyball report, Week 3.
- The weekend belonged to UCLA, who went 4-1 on the weekend, including wins over GCU, Washington, Oregon, and new No. 1 Stanford. The Bruins will no doubt be back on top of the rankings when they drop on Tuesday. The most puzzling result of the year will likely be their shocker of a loss against Hawaii in the opening weekend of the season, because…
- St. Mary’s upset the No. 12 Bows. Assistant coach Taylor Crabb, en route to the Joao Pessoa Elite, felt the stress of NCAA coaching, no doubt, when ALL FIVE courts went to three simultaneously. The Gaels won three of them and went 3-1 on the weekend, their one loss coming to Pepperdine.
- Also in Northern California, Cal is quietly humming along. The Bears are 8-5 in a brutally difficult schedule, and picked up ranked wins over LSU, GCU, and Washington. They dropped one to USC, which makes all five of their losses coming at the hands of teams ranked in the top five in the NCAA. Tough.
- LSU is in a similar boat. The Tigers came so-close-you-can-taste-it to upsetting Stanford, where they won on courts one and two but lost the remaining three, and USC, where they won on courts three and four. They went 1-3 on the weekend but did get their vengeance against Washington, who went winless on the weekend.
- 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 mailbag episode, and podcasts with Troy Field and Miles Evans.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have our monthly mailbag episode, where I chat all things new partnerships, Bhubaneswar, party scenes in professional beach, and more.
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Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
