Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
I lied to you just now.
It’s not morning while I’m writing this. It’s really very late in the evening, on a bus somewhere between Gainesville and Tallahassee, coming back from FAU’s spring break event in Pompano Beach. Even though we are several hours behind schedule, nearing midnight, itinerary thrown off due to a tire exploding to the point that it was just straight up deleted from this world like I’ve never seen a tire do, we are a happy bunch of Noles here on this merry little Astrobus. Why?
We got burgers, first off, at a little American diner joint in Ocala, and washed it down with those classic ice cream sundaes, while we waited for a new tire to arrive. There wasn’t a whole lot that could drag our morale down on Sunday, certainly not after those burgers and sundaes, and even more certainly after we went 4-0 on the weekend, and 6-0 since Wednesday’s day trip to Stetson. Took out No. 15 Stetson, Southland queens Texas A&M Corpus Christi, No. 13 FAU, No. 3 USC, DII juggernaut Tampa, and then defending National Champs and No. 6 TCU.
We’re a happy, bleary-eyed bunch.
As is Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher, who have officially shed the labels of the plucky LSU kids who could, and are now certified American adults, new last names and all — with the same golden results. They completed a perfect 7-0 record at the Joao Pessoa Elite this week, alas vanquishing Ana Patricia and Duda in a final for the first time in their careers.
I have plenty more from Joao Pessoa in a packed recap, including:
- Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig have kept their names the same, and also are achieving the same golden results.
- Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh: one tournament, one big medal, a bronze. Taylor’s first podium in four years.
- USA Volleyball’s tour de force that is the 2026 season thus far — five medals and nine top-five finishes in two tournaments.
Moving on.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week featured our always-popular mailbag, where I went on a solo mission to answer your questions on our plans for AVP coverage this season, partnerships we’re most excited about, how I got into beach volleyball, and more.
News Around the Beach
-
Your NCAA Beach Volleyball report, Week 4.
- The weekend again probably belonged to UCLA. Since a season-opening loss to Hawaii, which is a result that only gets more puzzling by the day, UCLA has been quite spectacular. This weekend, at the annual East Meets West — one of the best events on the NCAA calendar — they won every court, all weekend, sweeping Arizona State, LSU, FIU, and Texas. It has now been nearly a month since the Bruins lost.
- But it might have belonged to us, too, us being FSU. On Wednesday, Brooke Niles became the first NCAA coach in history to hit 300 wins. By the end of the weekend, she got to 304, as we won thrillers over USC and TCU, and snuck by a very good FAU team who had a legitimate chance to go 3-1 this weekend and instead went 1-3. Was just one of those weekends for FAU, where they had both us and TCU on the ropes and couldn’t find a way to close, and challenged USC well. They’ll beat someone pretty good this year, I have no doubt.
- USC took out TCU in a tremendous, weather-delayed match. We snuck out of Pompano Beach just in time for the skies to open up, and in a weather-delayed ender to the weekend, USC won 3-2 against TCU. There seems to be UCLA, Stanford — who went an expected 4-0 this weekend — and then a tier of teams ranked 3-12 who just beat the crap out of each other.
- Cal is one of those teams, but the Bears just keep getting their hearts broken by 3-2 losses. The latest came to Texas, who handed Cal its fifth 3-2 loss of the year. They’ll figure it out, and they’ll be dangerous when they do.
- Arizona State’s first stiff test came with mixed results. The Sun Devils should have been ranked higher than us and TCU going into this weekend, to be honest. They were undefeated, with a win over TCU — a TCU team that also beat us. Yet for some reason, ASU was ranked lower, because…I don’t know why. They traveled to East Meets West and it was a mostly rude meeting with the west, as UCLA, Cal, and LMU all handed Arizona State losses, its first three of the year. It’s a hard event, with no easy matches, and always a valuable litmus test for where teams are at in the middle of the season. They’ll learn a lot and be better from the trip, I can assure you of that.
- 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.
-
Missed any action from Joao Pessoa? I got you covered.
- Tlaxcala Challenge is up next. We are now in full swing of the Beach Pro Tour season. One of my favorite beach volleyball cities, Tlaxcala, Mexico, host of a wonderful 2023 World Championships, is hosting a Challenge this weekend. Seven USA women are in the main draw, and another five line yet another light, unfilled qualifier. There are points EVERYWHERE for the women this year. Three USA men’s teams are in the main, and another four — welcome back to the Beach Pro Tour, Troy Field! — are in the qualifier. Men’s entry list is here. Women’s is 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. We have several scheduled for y’all, including this week’s with Troy Field. Miles Evans is also coming up.
- Coming up on Wednesday we have Troy Field, our most popular guest of 2025, making his first appearance of 2026 on the pod.
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: TRIANDTRAVIS26 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Watch VBTV for 10 percent off using our discount code, SANDCAST10.
We’ve got SANDCAST merch! Get yourself some swag.
Back again with AG1! Joining forces again with AG1, the best supplement in the world, and we’re not too shy to say it. So if you want to stay healthy AND help the show, please order with this link, which comes with a billion free things when you subscribe. Just do it.
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.
Appreciate y’all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
SANDCAST Team
|
|
