Beach Notebook: Lindahl/Smith Competing in Slovenia

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 27, 2022) – Two months of continuous Beach Pro Tour tournaments will come to an end this week as Iya Lindahl/Lydia Smith participate in the Ljubjana (Slovenia) Futures.

The pair begin in the tournament’s qualifier, Thursday, July 28. They’ll need to win two matches to reach the main draw, which starts Friday, July 29.

Lindahl will be making her BPT debut, although she and Allie Wheeler did take third at the Varadero, Cuba, stop of the NORCECA Beach Tour in May. Smith competed in a pair of Futures in June with Jade Race.

There’s also a Futures event taking place in Myslowice, Poland, this weekend, but no American athletes will compete in it. After taking next weekend off, the Beach Pro Tour returns August 10-14 with an Elite 16 in Hamburg, Germany.

Last Time Out

Six pairs competed last weekend at the Agadir Challenge in Agadir, Morocco. Three – Corinne Quiggle/Sarah Schermerhorn, Emily Stockman/Megan Kraft and Andy Benesh/Miles Evans – competed in the main draw. All three cleared pool play with a 1-1 record and earned Round of 16 berths.

Unfortunately, all three also lost close three-setters in the Round of 16. They each finished the tournament tied for ninth.

The Kids Take Over

This week, the top junior beach volleyball athletes are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for both the USA Volleyball Beach National Championship and the U.S. Beach Club Championship. The Beach National Championship runs July 26-28, and the Beach Club Championship goes July 29-31. The latter is a joint venture between USA Volleyball and AVP, and it runs alongside the AVP’s Fort Lauderdale Open.

Follow USA Volleyball’s main and beach social media accounts for updates on these tournaments.

Speaking of Fort Lauderdale…

The AVP Pro Series continues this weekend with the Fort Lauderdale Open. The brackets will be full of BNT pairs and athletes.

In the women’s competition will be:

• Sarah Sponcil/Terese Cannon
• Kelly Cheng/Betsi Flint
• Kelley Kolinske/Sara Hughes
• Taryn Kloth/Kristen Nuss
• Savvy Simo/Emily Day
• Schermerhorn/Quiggle
• Zana Muno/Brandie Wilkerson (Canada)

Furthermore, Wheeler, Molly Turner and Jessica Gaffney have competed internationally for the U.S. this season. Hailey Harward and Julia Scoles were both named to this year’s Beach Collegiate National Team.

Plenty of men with BNT ties are competing, too, including:

• Theo Brunner/Chaim Schalk
• Tri Bourne/Trevor Crabb
• Chase Budinger/Troy Field
• Taylor Crabb/Taylor Sander
• Benesh/Nick Lucena
• Bill Kolinske/Evan Cory
• Logan Webber/John Hyden
• Miles Evans/Avery Drost

Hyden’s a BNT alum, so is Billy Allen, and BNT legend Phil Dalhausser is playing with fellow Olympian Casey Patterson. Travis Mewhirter and Tim Brewster have also competed internationally this season.