Rich Lambourne called the serves – the hissing topspin jump serve from his good friend and former Olympic teammate, Paul Lotman, and the devilish float of the recent mother of two, Betsi Flint – timeless.
Timeless indeed.
How else did the first of three AVP League Qualifiers end but with a pair walk-off aces from two of this generation’s most timeless servers. The first came from Lotman, who sealed up not necessarily a Cinderella story, but certainly an unexpected one, with Miles Partain, delivering that signature hooking jump-serve to seal up a sweep over Evan Cory and Derek Bradford, 15-10, 15-9. An hour later, Flint did the same, zipping her signature float serve down the line of Megan Kraft to shore up a wild three-set win alongside Kylie Deberg.
Both are now in the 2026 AVP League. Lotman and Partain join 2025 AVP League regular season champions Trevor Crabb and Phil Dalhausser, and post-season champs Hagen Smith and Logan Webber. Flint and DeBerg join Kristen Cruz and Taryn Brasher, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, and Julia Donlin and Lexy Denaburg.
To call Lotman and Partain Cinderellas would be inaccurate. To label them as favorites would be, too.
Partain and Andy Benesh split at the end of last year, a mutual parting of ways that saw Benesh turn to Taylor Crabb and Partain to his old partner and good friend in Lotman. How much Lotman has been training, who knows.
How much it matters is clear: It doesn’t.
Lotman was fantastic all day in Manhattan Beach. Long one of USA Volleyball’s most accurate passers, be it indoors or on the beach, he received the lion’s share of the serves, as expected, and Partain terminated no small number on two, as expected. Offensively, they were consistent; defensively, between Lotman’s serve and a new jump serve from Partain as well, they were formidable. Four straight matches won, over Seain Cook and Brian Miller, over Sam Schachter and Jonny Pickett, over Wyatt Harrison and Cody Caldwell, over Cory and Bradford, proved as much.
Now they’ll have four more weeks of AVP League play, and a nice chunk of change in their pocket for the 2026 season.
In the Manhattan finals with Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles/Photo: Ben Wood
Besti Flint, Kylie Deberg complete remarkable AVP League sweep
Flint’s return from the birth of her second child and straight into the AVP League is nothing shy of remarkable. Nor is it the first time she’s pulled off a comeback like this. In 2021, barely eight months after the birth of her daughter, Cora, she made the finals of the Manhattan Beach Open with Emily Day (now Capers). She’s done it again, winning four straight, over Macy Jerger and Jaden Whitmarsh, Anaya Evans and Torrey Van Winden, Hailey Harward and Xolani Hodel, and, unbelievably, Cheng and Kraft, to punch her ticket into the AVP League.
Again less than a year after giving birth.
The diaper money has been earned and then some.
While the brunt of the attention will understandably be on Flint for that type of Supermom performance, Deberg deserves her credit as well. In 2025, she was well on her way to a breakout year with Toni Rodriguez. Shortly after winning a gold medal at the Xiamen Challenge, however, Rodriguez hurt her shoulder, knocking her out for the year, and leaving Deberg in a strange partnership limbo.
Limbo no longer.
Deberg was excellent. A presence at the net, an offensive weapon, and a fiery partner for a similarly fiery Flint.
It was tremendous theater, and a well-won AVP League bid.
Saturday was for the 15 seeds
While the NCAA Basketball Tournament is well past its opening weekend, where March Madness well and truly earns its name, the AVP picked up on the madness theme, as both 15 seeds topped the No. 2 in the opening rounds. For the men, it was the burgeoning new face of American blockers, Jacob LaBouliere, and Will Rivera who stunned Chaim Schalk and James Shaw. For the women, that honor belong to No. 15 Falyn Fonoimoana and Lindsey Sparks, who shocked Molly Shaw and Toni Rodriguez, reunited after their torrid run of three straight medals at the end of the 2024 season.
While neither 15 seed advanced farther than the second round, it made for some bracket carnage and unexpected matchups.
Upsets rule the day
Such upsets, of course, are not entirely of the shocking variety. The AVP’s format of games to 15 sets an advantageous table for the underdogs. The results speak for themselves.
Eleventh-seeded Anaya Evans and Torrey Van Winden also knocked off sixth-seeded Teegan Van Gunst and Piper Ferch in the first round.
For the men, No. 8 Evan Cory and Derek Bradford were the resident Cinderellas, narrowly escaping Thomas Hurst and Gage Basey before toppling No. 1 Chase Budinger and Miles Evans and No. 4 Avery Drost and Tim Bomgren. Their second-place finish puts them in a prime position to earn an at-large bid into the AVP League.
But Diego Perez and Lev Priima, the No. 12, also swept No. 5 Troy Field and Ryan Wilcox, and No. 11 Sam Schachter and Jonny Picket took out No. 6 Seain Cook and Brian Miller.
In a format such as this, no one, regardless of seed or resume or pedigree, is safe.
Rick Atwood photo
In pole position for the at-large AVP League bids
With only three teams for the women, and two for the men, automatically into the 2026 AVP League, Saturday began with five and six empty spots, respectively. Three of those spots will be earned by winning the qualifiers, which will be held in consecutive Saturdays in Manhattan Beach. The remaining two for the women and three for the men will be at-large bids, wild cards awarded to teams on a mixture of qualities such as performances in the qualifiers, marketability, and other such traits.
As far as qualifier performances go, Evan Cory and Derek Bradford are in pole position for the men, followed by Avery Drost and Tim Bomgren, and Cody Caldwell and Wyatt Harrison.
Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft lead for the women, followed by Corinne Quiggle and Chloe Loreen, and Hailey Harward and Xolani Hodel.
You can find all results for the AVP League qualifiers at Volleyball Life.
