COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sep. 12, 2023) – In this week’s beach update, some of the best young men’s pairs from around the country are gearing up for the Men’s Beach Collegiate Challenge. Plus, we have a top finish for a women’s pair representing the U.S. at BPT Miguel Pereira.
BPT Futures
Teegan Van Gunst and Katie Lindstrom earned silver medals at BPT Futures Miguel Pereira over the weekend.
Van Gunst and Lindstrom lost in the final to Carol Horta/Ana Luiza of Brazil 21-15, 21-15.
The next futures event on the calendar is BPT Futures Halifax in Halifax, Canada. The event runs from Sept. 21-24.
Men’s Beach Collegiate Challenge
The 2023 USA Volleyball Men’s Beach Collegiate Challenge returns to Owings Mills, Md., and the campus of Stevenson University this weekend from Sept. 15-17. The Collegiate Challenge is preceded by an NTDP Beach Accelerator (Chesapeake Region) on Sept. 15.
This is the third year of the Men’s Beach Collegiate Challenge. Thirty- teams are entered into the main draw with registration fully booked for this year’s edition. Seeding for the Main Draw Tournament will be based on each pair’s combined USAV Beach Ranking as of September 11, 2023. A drawing will break any ties in the seeding.
The main draw begins on Friday, with the first phase being pool play. The top three ranked teams from each pool will advance to the final phase. The final phase over the course of the final two days is single elimination bracket play.
Daemen University will send Michael Krueger/Cameron Milligan and Zach Schneider/Kyle Zelasco
Troy McDonald/Gabe Metcalf and Robert Evangelista/Jackson Herbert will represent George Mason University. Herbert was on the 2023 Beach U19 National Team and won gold with partner Kai Rodriguez at the 2023 Caribbean Beach Championship.
Benjamin Gerdeman and Grant Lorelli will be the lone representatives for Juniata College.
Martin Radomski/Quinten Zilch will represent Lewis University.
Joshua Culpepper/Colt Fitzgerald and Mason Ellenberger/Zach Lamoreaux are the representatives for Liberty University.
Lincoln Memorial will send five teams. Matthew Gentry/Josh Luers, Zaydn Labreche/Asa Labreche, Diego Clark-Keith/Tate Colebaugh, Kohl Kutsch/Charlie Johan Negron, and Shay Spadaro/Griffin Wheatley.
Boone Felts/Camryn Sheehan will represent McKendree University.
Penn State sends returning champions from 2022, Michael Valenzi/Ryan Merk. Valenzi was on the 2022 Men’s Beach Collegiate National Team, and Merk was the libero on the U.S. Men’s U21 Indoor National Team that won silver at the 2023 Pan Am Cup. Carter Dittman/Will Kuhns will also represent Penn State.
Brooks Cowart/Kody Rogan attend for Randolph-Macon.
Host Stevenson has three teams entered. John Ferraro/Timothy Flanagan, Jay Hyman/Ryan Thenell, and Jack Braverman/Aidan O’Brien will all represent The Mustangs.
Mason Collver/Conner Young are the lone athletes from Thomas More.
Tosculum sends Kevin Blankenship/Joel Dubinsky, Colby Landry/Adam Svendsen, and Morgan Makovec/Noa Svendsen.
Vassar also sends three teams consisting of Jacob Kim/Vaughn Ramsey, Andrew Guaragno/Gavin Akoto, and Tobias Clark/AJ Erickson. Ramsey was a member of the 2020 Men’s Beach Collegiate National Team.
Webber will have three representative teams in Carson Barnes/Ayden Keeter, Andrew Nielsen/Peyten Young, and Josh Corr/Trent Massey. Young finished second last year with partner Wesley Blazek, while Carlos Jimenez/Jackson Arnold of Webber took third in 2022. Keeter has been a member of both the Beach U19 and Beach U21 National Teams. In 2022, he and partner Tread Rosenthal tied for 17th at the U19 World Championship. Both Keeter and his Collegiate Challenge partner Carson Barnes are on the 2023 Beach U21 National Team.
Wentworth will have two teams attending in Jacob Labouliere/Joshua Milke and Mason Andrade/Jonathan Pincince.
Schedule and results throughout the event can be found HERE.
Live Streaming for the Men’s Beach Collegiate Challenge can be found HERE.
Every athlete competing will have the opportunity to be scouted through the Beach National Team Development Program (NTDP) Scouting Network. For more information on the NTDP, please visit the NTDP FAQ page.
.
World Rankings
Rankings from last week remain unchanged for U.S. Beach National Team athletes.
All competing women’s team’s need just three more events to reach 12, with Elite16 Paris the next big event on the FIVB beach calendar coming at the end of September.
In the women’s ranking, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes are number two in the world behind Ana Patricia/Duda (BRA). Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are just 200 points behind Hughes/Cheng, taking third place in the world rankings with 7280 points.
Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint are inside the top 10, sitting at ninth with 5860 points.
In the men’s rankings, Miles Partain and Andy Benesh are still tied for number three in the world with Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan.
Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner are ranked No. 25 with 4180 points. Just below them are Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk, who have 4160 points.
Current World Rankings – Women
Provisional Olympic Ranking – Men
Provisional Olympic Ranking – Women
Regional Qualifiers
The new slate of regional qualifiers is upon us, with two events coming up this week on the USA Volleyball calendar.
The North Texas Region will host the Madsand Regional Qualifier on Sept. 17 in Plano, Texas. More event information can be found HERE
The Chesapeake Region will also host the Wave Fall National Qualifier on Sept. 17 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. More information can be found HERE