Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
I meant every word in that headline above, as it is quite literally the case thus far in 2026.
Just two weeks after our very own top pair at Florida State, Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig, claimed gold in a Beach Pro Tour Challenge, in Bhubaneswar, another pair of NCAA Beach standouts, Texas’ No. 2 Katerina Pavelkova and Anna Pavelkova, did the same in Mexico. The freshmen from the Czech Republic finished this weekend atop the podium at the Tlaxcala Challenge, winning their first medal as a team above the Futures level, upsetting rejuvenated Lithuanian Olympians Monika Paulikiene or Aine Raupelyte, 17-21, 21-13, 15-11.
Or maybe “upset” isn’t such a fitting word anymore.
Consider: Combined, Durish and Koenig and the Pavelkovas lost just one match. Three teams featuring Olympians were downed in the process. Even wilder: The Pavelkovas were coming off a loss to UCLA prior to leaving for Tlaxcala — and only one of the professional teams they played in Mexico could do what Ensley Alden and Kaley Matthews did at East Meets West two weekends ago.
All this, and the NCAA players haven’t even hit the Beach Pro Tour yet!
Durish and Koenig flew during a bye week at Florida State, and the Pavelkovas skipped LSU’s Death Volley Invitational — where Texas lost to Cal without their services; more on that below — to pick up some quick points and $20,000 in prize money.
Years ago, when I wrote AVP previews for VolleyballMag and p1440, I had a section titled “The College Mafia,” detailing all of the NCAA players who could be dangerous. Now the mafia is coming not just for the AVP, but the Beach Pro Tour.
Correction: It already is.
I have plenty more from Tlaxcala, including:
- In November, I wrote that the Australian men were rising. With a gold medal for Jack Pearse and D’Artagnan Potts, that rise is here.
- Another tournament, another medal for Sara Hughes and Ally Batenhorst, who are 2-2 this year with a pair of bronzes.
- USA Volleyball’s tour de force that is the 2026 season continues, as Hughes and Batenhorst, and Tim Brewster and Logan Webber tacked on two more medals, making it seven in just three tournaments
Moving on.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week featured our most popular guest of 2025: Troy Field, who is angling to be our most popular guest of 2026.
News Around the Beach
- SECRET’S OUT! Since June, I’ve been working on a book with our good friend Gabby Reece: Volleyball for Dummies. Beginning Tuesday, you’ll be able to pre-order your books at 25% off at Barnes and Noble. I cannot speak enough to how valuable pre-orders are to publishers and the authors, so this is me, on my hands and knees, begging you to pre-order your copies when the sale goes live Tuesday-Thursday. I haven’t worked with a traditional publisher since my first
- book, back in 2013, and I know a little more about the biz now: So if you like volleyball, like reading about it, or just like that you can support someone doing things for volleyball, get your pre-order in. You can still pre-order past Thursday, just not at 25% off. I’m so dang excited about this book, and it was an absolute blast to work on. I think it’s good, and much more fun than your standard “how to” instructional cardboard. It’s full of stories and tips and everything you’d expect.
- AVP League Qualifiers begin this Saturday. Pull up a chair and get to Manhattan Beach — or just pull up Beach Volleyball Media and Bet The Beach, who are streaming the event on YouTube. 16 teams, single-elim, winner punches their ticket to the League. Intense.
- Photo galleries are back! Andy J. Gordon and Will Chu were both out at UCLA’s East Meets West in Manhattan Beach. You can find Will’s photo gallery here and Andy’s photo gallery here.
- Don’t say don’t. As I learn more about coaching, I’m going to be writing about what I’m learning. This week: Why I am trying to rid the word “don’t” from my vocabulary as a coach. Read the reflection here.
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The NCAA Beach Volleyball report, Week 5.
- This weekend DID belong to us this time. Us being, of course, Florida State. We traveled to Baton Rouge for LSU’s annual Death Volley Invitational, one of the best events on the NCAA calendar, and went 4-0, knocking off No. 16 GCU, No. 9 Cal, unranked but spunky as hell Boise State — who probably should have beaten us, truth be told — and No. 10 Arizona State. The weekend moves us to 19-1 on the year and riding a 10-match win streak, with top-10 wins over TCU, USC, Cal, and ASU in the last two weeks. We’ll take it.
- Cal finally got its long-awaited win. If you’ve been paying attention to the previous NCAA Beach reports, you’ll know I have written, virtually every week, that Cal was overdue for a win. Five of its six losses had come 2-3. They were tantalizingly close to being a legit power. Finally, at LSU, they did it, knocking off Texas, 3-2, along with Boise and Georgia State. It should be noted that Texas was without its usual court two, Katerina and Anna Pavelkova, who were in Mexico winning gold medals on the Beach Pro Tour and stuff, but a win is a win is a win, and Cal did the dang thing.
- GCU, too, got its overdue win. The Lopes started the year ranked No. 13 and slipped to No. 16, sitting at .500 or below. Then they pulled off something of a stunner, upsetting LSU at home, in one of the sport’s best atmospheres. This, after LSU got a notable win over Arizona State, who is 2-6 after a 10-0 start to the season. The Sun Devils, though, make no mistake, are very good.
- Cal Poly keeps marching along. The Mustangs are 17-2 and picked up a ranked win over No. 13 Hawaii, which is their best win, by ranking, of the season.
- UAB is my leader for the All-Weird Team. The Blazers have some notable wins over Washington, Tulane, and Florida Gulf Coast, and some strange losses that will leave anyone who follows the sport a little puzzled as to what to make of them. This weekend only added to the confusion, as they took down Jose Loiola’s South Carolina to bring their record to 12-9.
- 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.
- Nayarit Challenge is up next. The Beach Pro Tour stays in Mexico, traveling from Tlaxcala, that wonderful, random bastion of beach volleyball enthusiasts, to Nayarit. Again, the entry list isn’t even close to full, another light event for players to scoop points. Men’s entry list is here and the women’s is here. Just another note to any players reading this: If you think it is hard to get points on the Beach Pro Tour, you are not doing it right. Not a single event has filled up this season. Sign up, get on a plane, and play.
- 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. You can already watch this week’s with Miles Evans.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Miles Evans, who might be the most underappreciated player of this current crop of talents. Olympian, Manhattan Beach Open winner, Hermosa Open winner, AVP League winner — what else do we need from the guy? Fun convo with Miles and Tri.
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
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