It could have been over. Should have been over.
Up 13-9 in the third set over Audrey Koenig and Alexis Durish in the semifinals of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Bhubaneswar Challenge, Sara Hughes slid into a cut shot, a perfect setup for an Ally Batenhorst on-two. The option – wisely taken, imperfectly executed – sailed wide, breathing life into the top pair from Florida State. 14-9 is a death sentence. 13-10 is, while improbable, doable.
An easy sideout from Batenhorst on the ensuing point made it 14-10. Four match points for Hughes and Batenhorst to make the finals in just their second tournament as a team, and the second of Batenhorst’s entire beach career.
It should have been over from there. Could have been over.
Because at 14-11, there was Hughes, the 2024 Olympian and 2023 World Champion, in system after proving to be terminal the entire weekend in India. Only there was Durish, sprinting behind Koenig, scooping Hughes’ short line shot, returning a cut shot of her own.
It could have been over then. Should have been over.
For there was Hughes, showing no signs of any achilles injury that kept her out of the 2025 season, digging Durish, in system once more, another opportunity to seal the match. But her ensuing high line was again picked up by Durish, who lofted an on-two ball for Koenig and down it went.
14-12.
And overpass from Hughes, as uncharacteristic as they come. A Koenig block.
14-13.
Timeout.
Now it was Batenhorst in system, Batenhorst swinging angle.
Too much angle.
Long and wide.
14-14.
Four straight for Koenig and Durish, the week two Big 12 Pair of the Week.
Again they went to Batenhorst out of the middle. Again, there was Durish, picking up another dig, making it an option opportunity for Koenig, who accepted the invitation, tooling Batenhorst.
15-14.
The first lead Koenig and Durish had held since going up 2-1 in the third.
They kept the strategy, serving Batenhorst to the middle, leaving the sharp angle swing so open, so temptingly open. Batenhorst tried it one final time, swinging into the angle, running out of room. Long and wide.
16-14. Disbelief from Koenig and Durish, who simply put their hands behind their heads in the look of rapturous “did that just happen” known around the sporting world.
A 21-17, 13-21, 16-14 win, already the comeback of the young 2026 season, was complete.
Just like that, Durish and Koenig, in their first Challenge event of their burgeoning careers, clinched a berth into the gold medal match, sending Hughes and Batenhorst to bronze.
Durish and Koenig, who are 4-0 on the season at Florida State without dropping a set, will meet Japan’s Asami Shiba and Reika Murakami, the No. 2 seed, in the finals. It will be the fourth match in five total in India in which they will be the lower seed, having upset the No. 8, No. 3 – China’s two-time Olympian Xinyi Xia and Xu Yan – and the No. 1 in Hughes and Batenhorst.
Hughes and Batenhorst, meanwhile, will play Americans Natalie Myszkowski, in her rookie season after a stellar career at UCLA, and Mrs. Underrated herself, Carly Kan.
Alexis Durish (FSU) | Surf City Collegiate Pairs Challenge (2025). (Photo by Will Chu)
While the Challenge level is unexplored ground for Durish and Koenig, the level at which they are playing is certainly not. In four international tournaments over the summer, they won four medals: gold at a NORCECA in the Cayman Islands, gold at a Futures in Geneva, bronze at a Futures in Montpellier, bronze at the FISU World University Games.
This is, simply, who they are.
Hughes and Batenhorst have had a topsy-turvy week. After dropping their opener to Ukraine’s Sofiia Kurnikova and Yeva Serdiuk, they still broke pool – everyone did, as the entry list plummeted with visa troubles and travel disruptions – and swept Japan’s Sakura Ito and Mayu Sawame to advance to the quarterfinals. There, they met Ukraine again, and again went to three, this time prevailing.
The mercurial performance is expected, given Batenhorst’s lack of experience on the beach and Hughes recovering from a season-ending injury. They are, really, further along than could have been anticipated. Even Alix Klineman, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist, had a bumpy road in her second event with April Ross, losing two straight matches at the Fort Lauderdale Major in 2018 to take 25th.
To be contending for bronze, even in a watered-down event, is no small thing.
And it is no small thing for Durish and Koenig, either, who will be the first Florida State pair in program history to win a medal of this magnitude, no matter the color. A win also comes with a cool $20,000 and 800 points, as good as gold in the currency of beach volleyball. A silver is $13,000 and 760 points – still a huge bump for a team making their initial push on the Beach Pro Tour.
The gold medal match will be played at 6:30am Eastern Time, and will be streamed on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube Channel.
