Beach Notebook: Kraft Wins Second Consecutive BPT Gold

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 29, 2022) – Two weeks ago, U.S. beach volleyball athlete Megan Kraft had never won a professional tournament.

Now she’s won two.

Her second came June 26 when she and Emily Stockman won the Bialystok Futures event in Bialystok, Poland. They capped an undefeated run with a 2-1 (21-17, 34-36, 15-11) win over Ukraine’s Anhelina Khmil/Tetiana Lazarenko in the championship match. Before the marathon second set, Kraft/Stockman had not dropped a frame during the tournament.

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En route to Bialystok gold, Kraft/Stockman beat fellow Americans Brook Bauer/Katie Horton in the semifinals. Bauer/Horton, who took silver the week before, finished fourth after a two-set loss in the bronze medal match.

Both Bauer/Horton and Jessica Gaffney/Molly Turner fought through the qualifier to reach the main draw. Bauer/Horton swept through pool C, while Gaffney/Turner played two close three-setters in pool B. They won one and lost one to advance to the Round of 12. There, they played three sets yet again, falling to Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene/Erika Kliokmanaite, 2-1 (17-21, 27-25, 19-17).

Both Adam Roberts/Cody Caldwell and Tambre Nobles/Melissa Fuchs Powell also competed in the Bialystok Futures. Roberts/Caldwell tied for 13^th and did not advance past pool play. Nobles/Fuchs Powell lost in the qualifier.

Double Gold

Gold in Bialystok was Kraft’s second professional win in as many weeks. On June 19, the 19-year-old won her first, the Balikesir Futures, with Savvy Simo. Kraft is now the third American with two gold medals on the Beach Pro Tour this year, joining Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss.

Kraft’s also the first woman to win back-to-back tournaments on the international tour in 2022. Kelly Cheng/Sarah Sponcil are the last Americans to do so; they won two consecutive 4-stars last year to clinch an Olympic berth.

Bialystok was Stockman’s third international win but first since 2018. She last medaled on the world tour in 2019.

Queen of the Comeback

Sarah Schermerhorn/Corinne Quiggle took fourth at King of the Court Hamburg, and they played more volleyball than any other team in the competition. They participated in seven sessions of the modified beach volleyball format, battling from the fifth-place playoff after group play all the way to the finals. In all, they won three elimination sessions. They advanced to the second round of the finals and even made a last-minute run on the Queen side before time expired.

Jade Race/Lydia Smith and Troy Field also competed in Hamburg. Race/Smith lost the fifth-place playoff to Schermerhorn/Quiggle, placing 15^th. Field, playing with Dutch athlete Stefan Boermans, took 11^th after advancing to the quarterfinals.

There are two Futures events on the calendar this week: Nobles/Fuchs Powell are in Ios, Greece, and Race/Smith will compete in Giardini Naxos, Italy. Both pairs will begin in their tournament’s qualifier.

The Ios Futures qualifier takes place Wednesday, June 29 and the medal rounds will be Saturday, July 2. Giardini Naxos starts a day later – Thursday, June 30 – and ends Sunday, July 3.

Twelve Selected at Beach NTDP Trials

Last week, the Beach National Team Development Program held trials for the FISU World University Championship and the U19 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, which will both be held in September. After three days of competition, six teams and 12 athletes won the right to represent the U.S. internationally:

World University Championship

Maddie Anderson/Lexy Denaburg

Hailey Harward/Julia Scoles

Charlie Siragusa/Wyatt Harrison

Sebastian Rodriguez/Jack Walmer

U19 FIVB Beach World Championship

Ashley Pater/Myriah Massey

Ayden Keeter/Tread Rosenthal

Should the U.S. receive an additional berth in the U19 Beach World Championship, they will be offered to trials runners-up, Sophie Kubiak/Bailey Showalter and Thomas Hurst/Caleb Blanchette.

More information about the recent Beach NTDP trials.