COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (October 14, 2024) – This week’s Beach Update recaps news from NORCECA Tour events and the AVP League. Looking ahead, several American pairs are in Brazil this week for the Elite 16.
U23 Norceca Punta Cana
Team USA swept the gold medals at the NORCECA U23 Tournament held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from October 7-9.
Izzy Martinez and Ella Connor (California Polytechnic) advanced to the quarterfinals without being forced into three sets, winning in a forfeit match. In the semifinals, they defeated Maykelyn Dorick and Milady Palette (CUB) 2-0 (21-17, 21-11). In the final, Martinez/Conner won 2-0 (21-8, 21-15) against Crismil Paniagua and Darenice Olivo (DOM) to claim the tournament title.
On the boys side, Aiden Keeter and Carson Burns bounced back from a loss in the final pool match to defeat Julian Araya and Stanley Grant (CRC) 2-0 (21-16, 25-23) in the quarterfinals. The American pair faced their toughest test in the semi-final round, defeating George Wilmore and Lorvin Maldonado (DOM) 2-1 (12-21, 21-19, 10-15), forcing them into a third set. .
In the final, Keeter and Burns defeated Damian Gomez and Evrys Veranes (Cub) 2-0 (21-18, 21-18).
norseca punta cana
Prior to Punta Cana U23, the U.S. National Team competed in the Senior NORCECA Continental Tour event in Punta Cana from October 2-4.
The U.S. women’s team had a great performance, with Zolani Hodel and Alexis Dourish winning gold and Molly Phillips and Mariah Whalen taking bronze.
Both U.S. women’s teams made it through the quarterfinals undefeated in their pool matches and faced off in the semifinals. Hodel and Durisch won 2-0 (21-15, 21-17).
Hodel and Durish advanced to the finals, defeating Amy Ozzie and Kaylee Gragau of Canada 2-0 (21-7, 21-16) to win the gold medal. Phillips and Whalen bounced back in the third-place match, winning 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) over Tara Austin and Taylor Buckner (ISV) for the bronze medal.
Hodel and Durisch’s gold medal follows the silver medal they won at the 2024 FISU Beach World University Championships in early September.
The only U.S. men’s pair to compete in Punta Cana, Lev Prima and Dave Wieczorek, lost in the quarterfinals to Yoel Guardado and Christopher Guardado (ESA).
norseca honduras
Next up is NORCECA Honduras, which will be held from October 18th to 20th. This is the first of five remaining NORCECA Tour events in 2024.
Katie Lindstrom and Tiffany Svensohn, Rachel Kramer and Jade Race will represent the U.S. women’s team.
Svensohn is the group’s most recent medal winner, winning silver at the BPT Futures Bujumbura with partner Kelly Kuhl in mid-September.
Dave Wieczorek and Lev Prima, Diego Perez and Ryan Ierna will represent the U.S. men’s team.
NORCECA confirms Pan Am 2025
NORCECA has confirmed that U.S. men and women have qualified for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games. The second tournament will be held in Asuncion, Paraguay from July 1 to 8, and the United States will face the Dominican Republic, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
The team qualified based on the results of three events on the NORCECA U23 Beach Tour: Punta Cana 2023, Juan Dolio 2023, and Punta Cana 2024.
Elite 16 Joan Pessoa
Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 competition resumes this week after a nearly month-long hiatus with the Elite 16 João Pessoa match taking place in Brazil from October 16-20.
The final Elite 16 event took place on August 21st in Hamburg. America’s best finish was 9th place for Betsy Flint and Julia Scholes.
This week, U.S. women’s pairs Deanna Craft and Lexi Denaburg, Mariah Whalen and Chloe Laureen, and Kim Hildreth and Teagan Van Gunst are expected to compete. The U.S. men’s team will be represented by Logan Weber and Hagen Smith. All U.S. pairs are scheduled to begin the tournament with a qualifying phase.
The final Elite 16 event before the BPT Finals will be held in Rio de Janeiro from November 6th to 10th.
AVP league
The AVP League returns to California this weekend and will be held in Oceanside on October 19th and 20th. Three of the AVP League’s final four events will be held in Southern California, with the penultimate game taking place in Dallas on November 2nd and 3rd.
New York Nitro (Kelly Chen, Sarah Hughes, Taylor Crabb, Taylor Sander) is by far the No. 1 team with a 10-2 record and an 83.3 winning percentage. The next closest teams in terms of winning percentage are the Dallas Dream (Kylie DeBerg, Haley Harward, Andy Benesh, Myles Partain) and the Austin Aces (Talyn Kross, Kristen Nass, Billy Allen, Paul Rotman). , both tied for second in 5-0. 3 (62.5%).
Our most recent visit was to the Delray Beach Tennis Center in South Florida. Flooding conditions continued throughout the weekend due to Hurricane Milton. Despite the bad weather, Nitro maintained their lead with 3 wins and 1 loss. The one loss was for the Brooklyn Blaze women’s team (Therese Cannon, Megan Craft), who defeated Cheng/Hughes 2-0 (15-12, 15-9).
The results of each league game will help determine the four qualifiers for the bracket-style championship round, which will be held at UCLA on Nov. 9 and 10. Playoff teams are determined first by the team’s winning percentage.
