Beach Notebook: Another Challenge Event Coming Up

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 20, 2022) – One week after they took silver at a Beach Pro Tour event, Sarah Schermerhorn/Corinne Quiggle look to win another medal as they and five other American beach volleyball pairs compete at the Agadir (Morocco) Challenge July 21-24.

Schermerhorn/Quiggle and Emily Stockman/Megan Kraft begin the Moroccan tournament in the main draw. Four more pairs – Andy Benesh/Miles Evans, Evan Cory/Bill Kolinske, Savvy Simo/Victoria Dennis and Jade Race/Makenzie Griffin begin in the qualifier Thursday, July 21.

In addition to Schermerhorn/Quiggle’s second-place finish, Stockman/Kraft and Benesh/Evans each finished in the top 10 at the Espinho Challenge, and Simo teamed with Emily Day to reach the quarterfinals. Cory/Kolinske won one qualifier match before falling to Taylor Sander/Taylor Crabb. Race also competed in the qualifier with Tiffany Creamer.

Stockman/Kraft are seeded eighth in the main draw, and Quiggle/Schermerhorn are 10^th. German duo Sandra Ittlinger/Isabel Schneider are the women’s tournament’s top seed, and four Tokyo 2020 Olympians are in the field.

On the men’s side, Olympians Adrian Ignacio Carambula Raurich/Enrico Rossi (Italy) are the top seed. Five other Tokyo 2020 competitors – Chris McHugh (Australia), Nicolas Capogrosso (Argentina), Mohamed Abicha/Zouheir Elgraoui (Morocco) and Adrian Heidrich (Switzerland) – will compete.

Simo/Dennis will be the first American pair to hit the sand. They have a first-round qualifier match against a German duo at 1 a.m. Pacific.

Every match at the Agadir Challenge will be streamed live on VolleyballWorld.tv.

Hughes/Kolinske go Viral

If you went online early last week, chances are you saw a pair of Beach National Team athletes. A play from Sara Hughes/Kelley Kolinske’s Beach World Championship match against Ecuador went viral as outlets such as The Guardian, ESPN and even Golf Digest posted about the 36-second clip where Hughes ran all over the court, hitting the sand five times to prevent Ariana Estefania Vilela Becerra/Karelys Simisterra Ortiz from scoring. Golf Digest even called it “the best volleyball point of all time”.

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Kolinske was no spectator, hitting the sand once herself and getting a couple touches in block. She also placed a pinpoint set so Hughes could hit the winner.

That point put the American duo up 17-13 in the first set. They went on to win the match, 2-0 (21-13, 21-9), win Pool F and reach the quarterfinals.

If that weren’t enough, Hughes did her best to recreate the point at the Hermosa Beach Open earlier this month as she hit the sand twice in a row and three times in four touches to win a point against Larissa Maestrini/Lili Maestrini.

Our play of the day may have already happened. 🤯@SaraHughesBeach covered every inch of the court before laying down an absolute hammer.

Catch Hughes/Kolinske in the Hermosa Beach Semifinals, starting now on YouTube.#AVP2022 #NoHoldingBack pic.twitter.com/1IUOmyo3ca

— AVP (@avpbeach) July 10, 2022

Stevenson University Introduces Men’s Beach

Last week, Stevenson University became the first NCAA school to offer men’s beach volleyball as an intercollegiate varsity sport.

The program will launch this fall and compete against NAIA and collegiate club teams. Fall will be the sport’s competition season as men’s indoor volleyball takes place in the spring.

In 2016, Stevenson became the first DIII school in the nation to create a women’s beach volleyball program.

“The growth of our women’s NCAA beach volleyball program has shown us the excitement and demand for this sport, which is already an extremely popular Olympic sport,” Brett Adams, Stevenson University Director of Athletics, said. “We think now is the time to be on the forefront and develop a men’s varsity program as well.”

“USA Volleyball is thrilled that Stevenson University is adding men’s beach volleyball as a varsity sport,” said USA Volleyball President and CEO Jamie Davis. “The growth of boys and men’s volleyball is a huge priority for USAV and to see Stevenson adding men’s beach volleyball is extremely rewarding. I am convinced that more NCAA institutions will follow suit as the popularity of the sport for men continues to explode.”

In September, USA Volleyball will host the second annual Men’s Collegiate Beach Challenge on the Stevenson campus in Owings Mills, Md. The tournament provides male college-aged beach athletes a chance to test their sand skills against similarly aged competition.