Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
Greetings again from Sports Fandom Hell, where my:
- Terps found another inventive way to blow a fourth quarter lead
- ‘Noles lost a late-nighter to Stanford
- Ravens blessedly gave me a week off of crying myself to sleep
A bright spot, however, is that USA Volleyball’s youth pipeline is filled to the brim and overflowing. Yesterday in Mexico, the U21 World Championships featured an All-American final: Avery Jackson (Stanford) and Sally Perez (UCLA) vs. Zoe Henson and Sarah Wood (both USC). Avery and Sally won, coming from the qualifier to gold, just two weeks after Avery Junk and Addie Junk (both FSU) took silver in the U18 Worlds in Doha, Qatar.
All hail the NCAA, USA’s free talent development pipeline.
Meanwhile, Malachi Brewington and Titus Lance tied a USA best fifth-place finish. Not a bad showing for the boys, and a positively scintillating one from the women.
As the big time World Championships approach, the success at the age group levels is an indicator of continued dominance to come.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This past week featured the boys, Tri Bourne and myself, back in studio together for what might be our final episode together in 2025. We took all the Fan Qs and chatted Tri’s retirement and a whole lot more:
Kelly Cheng the best in the world?
On this week’s fan question episode, I wondered if Kelly Cheng is the best player in the world right now. It led to a fun discussion:
News Around the Beach
- Tina Graudina: The joyful star. Our new star writer, Graham Hays, was back penning another excellent feature, this one on Tina Graudina, the happiest medalist there ever was. Read the feature here.
- Madison Trusty: The fun uncle of FSU beach volleyball. Fired up we have Trusty back for one more year in Tallahassee. Read the feature and listen to the SandyNoles podcast here.
- Beach Pro Tour hits Cape Town. The penultimate Elite of the year heads to South Africa this week. The field is, as expected, light, given the timing. Only Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, and Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, are in the main draw for the women, while Piper Ferch and Teegan Van Gunst and Kelly Kool and Tiffany Svenssohn are in the qualifier. For the men, it’s as light an event as I can recall. Here are the entry lists.
- We now have an ad free tier for audio. Tired of listening to ads? I saw a bunch of comments on the ad frequency in Rogan podcasts, and figured I’d give our listeners an ad-free option. For 5 bucks a month, you no longer have to listen to ads, and you support the show. Win win. Here’s the link where you can become a patron.
- 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 I am chatting all things men’s world championships, breaking it down pool by pool. If you’re a member on YouTube, you can already watch.
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
