U.S. Comes Away with Silver at 2024 Beach World University Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Sept. 9, 2024) – Xolani Hodel (Stanford) and Alexis Durish (Florida State) claimed the silver medal for the U.S. at the 2024 FISU Beach World University Championships on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The World University Championships for various sports take place during every even-numbered year, filling the gap in the international university sports calendar between the two FISU World University Games events.

Hodel/Durish made it to the final after sweeping pool play and earning 2-0 wins in the first two elimination rounds. Hodel/Durish defeated Austria’s Magdalena Rabitsch/Anja Trailovic 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-5) in the quarterfinals and Paula Schurholz/Janne Uhl of Germany 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in the semifinals. In the battle for gold, they fell to Anna-Lena Grune/Hanna-Marie Schieder of Germany 2-0 (21-14, 21-17).

“Playing in the World University Championship tournament in Rio was such an amazing experience that really pushed me to grow both mentally and physically as we faced all kinds of different playing styles from around the world,” Hodel said. “One of the things I love most about international tournaments is the mix of cultures and languages—it makes the whole experience so much richer and more fun. I’m super grateful for the chance to represent the USA on such a big stage and to bring back some great lessons for the future.”

Hodel/Durish were one of three women’s pairs representing the U.S., the others being Taylor Wilson (Stanford) / Natalie Myszkowski (UCLA) and Maddy Anderson (Florida State) / Michelle Shaffer (Loyola Marymount).

Anderson/Shaffer also swept pools and earned 2-0 wins in the first two rounds of elimination. Their run ended in the quarterfinals with a loss to Schurholz/Uhl (GER) 2-0 (21-15, 21-13).

Myszkowski/Wilson went 3-0 in pool play and advanced past Y.S. Leung/K.W. NG of Hong Kong in the Round of 32, but lost in three sets to Grune/Scheider (GER) in the Round of 16 (20-22, 21-16, 15-13).

Patrick Rogers (Ball State) / John Schwengel (Santa Monica College), Thomas Hurst (UC Irvine) / Gage Basey (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Nato Dickinson (Long Beach State) / Jackson Herbert (George Mason) competed for the U.S. men in Rio.

Hurst/Basey went 2-1 in pool play and defeated Al Saadi/Yousef Al Abri of Oman 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) in the Round of 32. Their run came to an end in the Round of 16 where they lost to top-seeds Mateus/Matheus of Brazil, 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-12).

“With so many teams from around the world you get to compete against so many different styles of volleyball and interact with people from many different backgrounds,” Basey said. “I wish we had performed slightly better because I believe we are capable of winning this event. At the same time, I am very grateful for the once in a lifetime opportunity I was given to compete in such a cool event.”

Dickinson/Herbert went 1-2 in pool F and were defeated by Sepka/Sedlak of Czech Republic 2-0 (21-4, 21-9) in the Round of 32.

Rogers/Schwengel also went 1-2 in pool E lost to Joao Pedro/Lucas of Brazil 2-1 (17-21, 22-20, 15-13) in the Round of 32.

Complete tournament results