Good morning, beach volleyball fans,
And as Kyler Friend said on our soon-to-be-published Beach Access recapping a wild and wonderful AVP Chicago: HOLY SH&%!
What a weekend.
Chase Budinger shoved Trevor Crabb. Taylor Crabb made the finals wearing shoes. Shoes? Shoes.
Glorious weekend, all of it.
Miles Partain and Andy Benesh made their fifth AVP final in as many tries and won their third; Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson alas vanquished their Chicago demons vs. Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, and now Chicago has a new winner for the first time in three years.
But the drama was reserved for Saturday, and almost all of it fell on the shoulders of poor Dan Waineraich, whose increasingly salty beard got a few more grays this weekend. To recap: Since the Olympic quad began, there has been no love lost between Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner and Chase Budinger and Miles Evans. Theo has mostly been neutral on the matter. Trevor...has not. The trash talk hit new -- and very entertaining -- levels after Trevor and Brunner won the Manhattan Beach Open. This made for an inevitably spicy match when they met in the quarterfinals this weekend in Chicago, and it took exactly seven points for a double-red-card to be awarded to Budinger and Trevor. The rest of the match went without incident but much trash talk. It was great theater, and will make for the best rivalry in America for a long time. We need it.
An hour later, Waineraich was on the sidelines for maybe the most intense beach volleyball match you'll ever see (you won't, since it wasn't streamed and the players requested no video and photo). Savvy Simo and Abby Van Winkle were tied with Hailey Harward and Kylie DeBerg for the final spot in the upcoming AVP League. How much is that spot worth?
A minimum of $40,000 for the team.
Without a contingency in place for how to break the tie, it was decided a one-match playoff was the way to do it (I agree). So they played three sets to 15, the format in which the League will be played, and Harward and DeBerg won, 15-13, in the third.
It was tense.
We talk about all of this in much more detail on our Chicago recap, which will be on audio and video on our YouTube Channel sometime this afternoon, Pacific Time.
Please tune in and share.
And please tune in for our most recent episode with Ryan Wilcox, your soon-to-be AVP Rookie of the Year.
The week in SANDCAST Studios
This week's podcast featured Ryan Wilcox, Tri Bourne's new partner who hadn't made a main draw prior to Huntington Beach in May and finished this season with three top-10s, a win in Virginia Beach, and a seventh in Chicago. He'll be around for a long time, so you should:
It's the Fu#@$%^ Manhattan Beach Open!
Want some behind the scenes access from the Manhattan Beach Open? We've got it, as Frito delivered yet again on the most recent Bourne on the Beach episode.
FUN NEWS! SANDCAST and Volleyball TV are partnering up. By the end of the year, the Road to Paris will feature highlights and clips from Volleyball TV to complement the coverage. Better yet: You can get 20 percent off your VBTV subscription if you use the code SANDCAST20.
News Around the Beach
- Who made the AVP League? For the women, it is: Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, Geena Urango and Toni Rodriguez, Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, Hailey Harward and Kylie DeBerg, and the wild cards, April Ross and Alix Klineman.
- For the men, it is Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, Seain Cook and Cody Caldwell, Troy Field and Tim Bomgren, Billy Allen and Paul Lotman, and Phil Dalhausser and Avery Drost, who won the tiebreak over Evan Cory and Alison.
- SANDCAST memberships are live. We've opened up memberships for anyone who wants to watch full podcast episodes on YouTube a day or two early. Soon, you'll be able to watch this week's with Ryan Wilcox, Tri Bourne's new partner who has made an early splash.
- It's Hermosa Beach Open week! Qualifier starts Wednesday, main draw is Thursday-Saturday. All streaming will be on VBTV. You can find the entry lists and all information here.
- Coming up on Wednesday we've got Florida State's full coaching staff! Brooke Niles, Nick Lucena, and me chat about FSU, NCAA beach, and working as a married couple. Fun one.
If you enjoy the podcast or this newsletter -- or both! -- we'd love it if you could share it out! Word of mouth is the best way we grow, so share the love, and as always, let us know any content you'd like to see more of (or less of) and we'll make it happen!
Much Love to the sponsors
We're officially partnered with Better at Beach! Don't know how this took so long, seeing the massive overlap between our audiences. So 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.
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. With season coming up, if you're looking to get some new equipment, use our discount code: SANDCAST63 for 20 PERCENT OFF.
Introducing Balltime, the AI platform making breaking down film and statistics EASY (FINALLY!). Use our link for a discount and give it a try!
Need to get hydrated? Waiakea has all kinds of fantastic deals online, and good news for you (and us), you can get 20 PERCENT OFF using our discount code, Sandcast, at checkout. Aloha, y'all.
SANDCAST is fueled by a lovely mix of three main ingredients: We LOVE to do it, people enjoy listening to it, and sponsors fund our ability to do so. We only partner with sponsors we love, and we are so fired up to have Athletic Greens join the show! And they're hooking up our listeners with a full year of Vitamin D for FREE, as well as five totally FREE travel packs!
Appreciate y'all for listening, reading, and loving the beach like we do.
Have a great week!
SHOOTS!
Tri and Travis (and Savvy)
