Beach Update: U.S. Earns Hardware from 2024 NORCECA Punta Cana

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 14, 2024) – This week’s beach update recaps news from NORCECA Tour events and the AVP league. Looking ahead, several U.S. pairs are in Brazil for an Elite 16 this week.

U23 NORCECA Punta Cana

U.S. teams swept the gold medals at the NORCECA U23 competition on Oct. 7-9 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Izzy Martinez and Ella Connor (Cal Poly) were never pushed to three sets as they made their way to the quarterfinals, which they won via forfeit. They defeated Maykelin Drik and Mileidy Paret (CUB) 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) in the semis. They met Crismil Paniagua and Darlenys Olivo (DOM) in the final where Martinez/Connor took the tournament title with a 2-0 win (21-8, 21-15).

In the men’s bracket, Ayden Keeter and Carson Barnes rebounded from a loss in their final pool match to defeat Julian Araya and Stanley Grant (CRC) 2-0 (21-16, 25-23) in the quarterfinals. The U.S. pair had their toughest test in the semifinal round where they won after being pushed to a third set by George Wilmore and Rolvin Maldonado (DOM) 2-1 (12-21, 21-19, 10-15).

In the final, Keeter and Barnes defeated Damien Gomez and Eblis Veranes (CUB) 2-0 (21-18, 21-18).

NORCECA Punta Cana

Prior to U23 Punta Cana, the U.S. was represented in the senior NORCECA Continental Tour event on Oct. 2-4 in Punta Cana.

The U.S. women had a stellar showing as Xolani Hodel and Alexis Durish took gold while Molly Phillips and Mariah Whalen won bronze.

Both U.S. women’s pairs went undefeated in pools and advanced past the quarterfinals to meet in the semis. Hodel and Durish came out on top 2-0 (21-15, 21-17).

Hodel and Durish advanced to the final where they earned the gold medal by defeating Amy Ozee and Kaylee Glagau (CAN) 2-0 (21-7, 21-16). Phillips and Whalen rebounded in the third-place match, taking the bronze medal with a 2-0 win over T’ara Austin and Taylor Buckner (ISV) (21-16, 21-13)

The gold for Hodel and Durish follows the silver medal they won at the 2024 FISU Beach World University Championships at the beginning of September.

Lev Priima and Dave Wieczorek, the lone U.S. men’s pair competing in Punta Cana, fell in the quarterfinals to Yoel Guardado and Christopher Guardado (ESA).

NORCECA Honduras

Up next is NORCECA Honduras running from Oct. 18-20. It’s the first of five remaining NORCECA Tour events in 2024.

Katie Lindstrom and Tiffany Svenssohn along with Rachel Kramer and Jade Race will compete for the U.S. women.

Svenssohn is the most recent medal winner of the group, taking silver in mid-September at BPT Futures Bujumbura with partner Kelly Kool.

Dave Wieczorek and Lev Priima along with Diego Perez and Ryan Ierna will compete for the U.S. men.

NORCECA Confirms Pan Am 2025

NORCECA has confirmed that the U.S. men and women have qualified for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games. The second edition of the event will be held on July 1-8 in Asunción, Paraguay, and the U.S. will face off against the Dominican Republic, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Teams qualified based on results in three events of the NORCECA U23 Beach Tour (Punta Cana 2023, Juan Dolio 2023, Punta Cana 2024).

Elite 16 Joao Pessoa

Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 competition returns this week after nearly a month-long pause with Elite 16 Joao Pessoa on Oct. 16-20 in Brazil.

The last Elite 16 event was Hamburg on Aug. 21. Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles had the highest U.S. finish in ninth.

This week, the U.S. women’s pairs of Deahna Kraft and Lexy Denaburg, Mariah Whalen and Chloe Loreen, and Kim Hildreth and Teegan Van Gunst are expected to compete. Logan Webber and Hagen Smith will represent for the U.S. men. All U.S. pairs are slated to begin the tournament in the qualification phase.

The final Elite 16 event before the BPT Finals will be on Nov. 6-10 in Rio De Janeiro.

AVP League

The AVP League returns to California this weekend for a stop in Oceanside on Oct. 19-20. Three of the final four AVP league events are located in Southern California, with the penultimate stop on Nov. 2-3 in Dallas.

The New York Nitro (Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, Taylor Crabb, Taylor Sander) are far and away the No. 1 team in the standings with a 10-2 record and a 83.3 winning percentage. The next closest teams by winning percentage are the Dallas Dream (Kylie Deberg, Hailey Harward, Andy Benesh, Miles Partain) and the Austin Aces (Taryn Kloth, Kristen Nuss, Billy Allen, Paul Lotman) who are both tied for second at 5-3 (62.5%).

The most recent stop was in South Florida at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. Soggy conditions persisted throughout the weekend in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Despite the inclement weather, the Nitro went 3-1 to keep the top spot. The one loss came to the women of the Brooklyn Blaze (Terese Cannon, Megan Kraft) who defeated Cheng/Hughes 2-0 (15-12, 15-9).

Results from each league match help determine the four qualifiers for the bracket-style championship rounds on Nov. 9 and 10 at UCLA. Playoff teams will be determined first by the team winning percentage.