The truest AVP League Qualifier has been saved for last.
The first two, won by Betsi Flint and Kylie Deberg, Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft, Miles Partain and Paul Lotman, Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, didn’t necessarily have the feel of a qualifier. Of the eight names mentioned above, five are Olympians, one is a World Champion, five have made Elite finals on the Beach Pro Tour, and every single one of them has won a medal at the Challenge level or above.
Those qualifiers felt like legitimate open tournaments, heritage events that will come later in the year.
But the heavyweights are gone, either having already punched their ticket into the 2026 AVP League, or literally gone, in Saquarema, Brazil for the second Elite of the Beach Pro Tour season.
What’s left are the true qualifier teams, the ones on the cusp of being in or out.
Below are the storylines to watch in the final AVP League qualifier this Saturday in Manhattan Beach.
Does Lauren Stivrins have a winning run in her?
Lauren Stivrins received perhaps the most surprising partnership promotion of the year when 2025 World Champ Tina Graudina picked her up for the League qualifiers. The former first-team All-American at Nebraska was gifted a baptism by fire in the first two weeks, matching up with Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft, who are a collective 15-2 this season. Yet it was Stivrins and Graudina who gave Cheng and Kraft their stiffest test in the second week, pushing them to a 19-17 third set decider. Stivrins was undeniably impressive.
But being undeniably impressive in one match is altogether different than winning four in a row, which she’ll need to do to punch her ticket into the League. The road as the 15 seed is not an easy one, beginning with Geena Urango and Megan Rice. While Stivrins and Graudina can upset one, maybe two, maybe three teams, the question remains: Can they win four?
Corinne Quiggle, Chloe Loreen: The third-seeded favorites
On paper, Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen are the three seed, behind No. 1 Molly Shaw and Toni Rodriguez and No. 2 Geena Urango and Megan Rice. I’d still peg them as the favorites, given their performance the last two weeks. They’ve passed the eye test and then some. Rodriguez and Shaw, of course, made the finals in week two, losing an excellent match to Cheng and Kraft, and that could very well be the final in week three: Loreen and Quiggle vs. Shaw and Rodriguez. That’s the final I’d anticipate, anyway. But this is beach volleyball, and sets are played to 15, so there is a whole lot that can happen between round one and round four.
Sneaky teams to watch
Piper Ferch and Teegan Van Gunst have been quiet, despite their Beach Pro Tour success, in which they are automatically into Elite main draws. They could make a run into the AVP League and it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Alaina Chacon and Maddie Anderson, too, are more than capable. They’re coming off a bronze medal at the Nayarit Challenge and were knocked out by Cheng and Kraft in week two, a team they won’t see in week three.
Hailey Harward and Xolani Hodel would round out the list of teams I’d view as contenders to qualify for the AVP League. Like Ferch and Van Gunst, they’ve been quiet, but their potential is that of a winning team.
This list, of course, doesn’t mention the obvious potential winners in Rodriguez and Shaw, and Urango and Rice, because they wouldn’t exactly qualify as “sneaky” teams, but they are contenders, no doubt.
Chaim Schalk, James Shaw: The heavy favorites in week three
Chaim Schalk and James Shaw haven’t found their rhythm yet in 2026. A first-round knockout in week one preceded a second-round knockout in week two. Yet this is still the team who won a fifth at the World Championships in Adelaide in November. That’s not that long ago. Without Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, or Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, it is, on paper, a heavily favored road for Schalk and Shaw, who shouldn’t really have a match they could lose until the semifinals. Of course, not many would have predicted No. 15 Jacob LaBouliere and Will Rivera to take them out in the first round of the opener, so all matches are inherently losable.
Gage Basey, Thomas Hurst: Ready for takeoff?
In a strange scheduling snafu, Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst played Evan Cory and Derek Bradford in the first round of both qualifiers. Both matches were excellent, and both went to Cory and Bradford. With Cory and Bradford alas lined up with another team, I’d anticipate Basey and Hurst to have a fun second-rounder with Tim Bomgren and Avery Drost, League veterans who threatened in week one.
Evan Cory, Derek Bradford look to finish a tournament
Evan Cory and Derek Bradford have been close enough to taste the League twice. They made the finals in the first, losing to Paul Lotman and Miles Partain, and lost in three to finalists Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in the second. Their road is not an easy one, beginning with Tim Brewster and Ryan Ierna, but they’re playing better volleyball than any team in the field.
