U.S. Beach ParaVolley Teams Win at Development Event

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 8, 2022) – The women’s team of Berklee Andrews, Skye McDermott and Jessie West and the men’s team of Eric Duda, Abram Gornik and Dave Newkirk won the titles at the USA Volleyball Beach ParaVolley Recognized Development Event (RDE) on Dec. 4 at Hickory Point Beach in Tavares, Florida.

Seven U.S. teams competed at the event: four women’s teams and three men’s teams. A men’s team from Australia is also competed. It was USA Volleyball’s largest beach paravolley competition to date and its first international competition.

It was held alongside the AVP’s Central Florida Open tournament and was hosted by the USA Volleyball Florida Region. Prize money was provided by the Norelli Family Foundation. The winning teams each collected $3,000.

Beach paravolley is a three-person variant of beach volleyball for disabled athletes.

In August, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that beach paravolley has applied to participate in the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. If accepted, it would be the second active volleyball discipline in the Paralympics, joining sitting volleyball.

In the women’s final, Andrews/McDermott/West beat Nicky Nieves/Avery Stephens/Hayden Thompson. In the men’s final, Duda/Gornik/Newkirk defeated Kurt Larson/John Kreischer/Chris Seilkop/Patrick Young.

Full results are posted at https://floridaregion.bracketpal.com/tournament/52.