COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (October 1, 2024) – This week’s Beach Update prepares us for two NORCECA events in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, including the debut of the 2024 U23 Beach National Team. While we wait for the next international tournament, we also check out the national team players competing in AVP, Queen, and King of the Court events.
norseca punta cana
The NORCECA Continental Tour continues this week in Punta Cana from October 1st to 5th.
The women’s pairs representing the United States will be Molly Phillips and Mariah Whalen, as well as Zolani Hodel and Alexis Dourish.
Durisch/Hodel won the silver medal at the 2024 FISU Beach World University Championships held in early September.
The only U.S. men’s pair competing in Punta Cana will be Lev Prima and Dave Wieczorek. All pairs earned the right to compete for a finish at the NORCECA Playoff 4, which will be held in Hermosa Beach at the end of June.
NORCECA Punta Cana is the first of seven NORCECA tournaments to be held through the end of the year. This week’s event will be followed by NORCECA Honduras from October 17th to 21st.
U23 preview
The U23 Beach National Team has arrived in the Dominican Republic to begin preparations for the 2024 NORCECA Continental Tour, which will be held in Punta Cana from October 6th to 9th.
The U.S. women who will open the tournament are Ella Connor (California Poly) and Isabella Martinez (California Poly). The American men starting in the main race are Carson Barnes (Webber) and Aiden Keeter (Webber). Connor was the winner of the event in 2022 with partner Piper Furch.
Reserve players on the women’s team are Emma Donley (California) and Brooke Rockwell (Stanford). Reserve players for the men’s team are Gage Basie (Colorado State) and Thomas Hurst (University of California, Irvine). Basie and Hurst won gold at the 2022 Games.
Pool play begins on October 7th and the Round of 16 elimination phase begins on October 8th. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches will all take place on October 9th.
AVP league
The first indoor event of the season was held last weekend at San Diego’s Viejas Arena, AVP’s third stop on its first tour.
Four of the eight total teams (one men’s and one women’s pair on each team) visited the San Diego State University campus along with several players from the U.S. Beach National Team.
Paris Olympians Sarah Hughes and Kelly Chen (New York Nitro), Andy Benesch and Miles Partein (Dallas Dream) remained undefeated over the weekend with a 4-0 record.
On Sunday, Benesh/Parthein defeated New York’s Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander 15-11, 17-15, handing the Nitro men’s duo their first loss on tour.
Also on Sunday, Theo Brunner and Trevor Crabb (Miami Mayhem) defeated Chase Budinger and Miles Evans (San Diego Smash) 15-12, 15-11 to defeat the Paris Olympians in AVP play. ended their two-game losing streak.
“The last match (Budinger vs. Evans) was a little more emotional,” Trevor told the crowd in his post-fight interview. “This time we made it a little more business-like. We know that if we play our game and stay strong, we’re going to be a better team any day of the week.”
2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalists April Ross and Alix Kleinman closed out the tournament with a 15-9, 11-15, 15-11 victory over San Diego’s Gina Urango and Toni Rodriguez. With this win, the Miami team (5-3) moves into second place with Dallas in the current AVP league standings.
The AVP League will host its next games this weekend on October 5th and 6th at the HEB Center in Austin, Texas. It will then travel to the Delray Beach Tennis Center in Palm Beach, Florida, before returning to Southern California for an event on October 19th and 20th at Front Wave Arena in Oceanside, California.
queen and king at court
Therese Cannon and Megan Craft were crowned Queens of the Court at an event held in Miami over the weekend.
The rules for Queen and King of the Court are five teams competing over three 15-minute rounds. The team with the fewest points is eliminated in each of the first two rounds. In the final round, the first team to reach 15 points wins.
In the women’s match, fellow American pair Kim Hildreth and Chloe Loreen led in the first two rounds, but Cannon/Craft took the all-important third set to take the crown in Miami. Hildreth/Laureen will settle for bronze medal
Robert Meussen and Jorick de Groot (NED) scored the most points in the final round, taking the men’s crown in what is expected to be Meussen’s last tournament before his retirement.
The Dutch duo beat out the American pair of Hagen Smith and Logan Webber, who finished with silver, and the pair of Mies Sengers and Tim Brewster, who finished third.
