Dear Readers~
This week and next will cover the special AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) blogs I've been talking about over the course of the summer. I'm of course talking about the AVP event that happened in Manhattan Beach, California back in the middle of August. This was my 6th time going to the event so I have made many friends over the years (some you will see here and some next week) and have heard of a lot of the players (yet this year I think I knew fewer players than any other year before including my first year attending). Due to the NCAA only having beach for women but indoor for both, I know of more of the women compared to the men as a result of that. Let's get into this week's coverage and find out who all I watched compete and who all I met.
Keep in mind that this was a double elimination tournament, which means that if you lose your first game you get moved into the contender's bracket and if you lose again, your weekend is over. The one exception to this rule is if you have a loss in the finals or semifinals, in which case, you are knocked out of the tournament no matter how many games you've lost over the weekend.
Day 1 I saw a few athletes turned into friends including Maddie Anderson (who played at Florida State, with her sister Cassie, if either of those names sound familiar) and Molly Shaw (she played at GCU and was Molly Turner when I first met her until she got married to fellow AVP player James Shaw). Someone I know and who knows me who didn't play that weekend (or at all this season) is Betsi Flint (since she just had a baby not long after this tournament). Let's see how things went for this first day.
So I started watching the women's bracket with Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips playing Isabella Martinez and Ella Connor. This game would end 2 sets to 1 in favor of Martinez and Connor, knocking Harward and Phillips into the contender's bracket. The next game I watched was Molly Shaw and Kelly Cheng taking on Erin Inskeep and Charlotta Bell. This game would end 2 sets to none in favor of Shaw and Cheng. The next one I watched was Maddie Anderson and Brook Bouer taking on Aurora Davis and Sarah Wood. This game ended 2 sets to none in favor of Anderson and Bauer. The second set ended at 27-25 and for those who don't know, the first and second sets end at 21 but a lead of 2 points or more is needed. Hailey Harward and Molly Phillips were the next team I watched and it was for their second game (and first contender's match) of the weekend. In this game, they played Madison Sheilds and Macy Jerger. Harward and Phillips won this game 2 sets to none and moved on to the following day.
Here we have Molly Phillips (shorts) and Hailey Harward (visor)
Here we have Molly Shaw (left) and Kelly Cheng (right)
This game I watched because my friend Betsi was coaching one of the teams (far right in the coaches box)
Here we have my friend Maddie Anderson (left) and her teammate Brooke Bauer (right)
Here we have Maddie Anderson herself
Here is Betsi Flint
On the other side of the net, we have Hailey on the left and Molly on the right
Here is your 2023 NCAA Indoor National Champion (Texas) and your 2024 NCAA Beach National Champion (USC), Molly Phillips
Day 2 of the women's bracket started by watching Hailey and Molly in their first game of the day, where I would go on to meet Hailey's mom while Hailey and Molly were warming up. This game would be against Alaina and Morgan Chacon. This game would end 2 sets to one in favor of the Chacon sisters and knocking Hailey and Molly out of the tournament now that they've lost twice for the weekend. The next game I watched after that was Molly Shaw and Kelly Cheng against Natalie Myszkowski and Kelly Belardi. This game would end 2 sets to none in favor of Shaw and Cheng. The next game was Geena Urango and Megan Rice against Kylie Deberg and Xolandi Hodel. This game would end 2 sets to none in favor of Urango and Rice. With this being the second loss, Deberg and Hodel would be done for the weekend. The next game would consist of Molly Shaw and Kelly Cheng taking on Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft. This game would end 2 sets to 1 in favor of Cannon and Kraft. With this being in the winner's bracket, that knocks Shaw and Cheng into the contender's bracket. The next game would have Abby Van Winkle and Savvy Simo (they both played beach for UCLA if you remember some of my very first blogs a few years back) taking on Natalie Myszkowski and Kelly Belardi. This game would end 2 sets to none in favor of Simo and Van Winkle. This knocks Myszkowski and Belardi out of the tournament. Next we have Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw taking on Ashley Patter and Kennedy Coakley. This game would end 2 sets to none in favor of Coakley and Patter, knocking Shaw and Cheng out of the tournament. The final game of Saturday was Geena Urango and Megan Rice against Corinne Quiggle and Teegan Van Gunst. This game would end 2 sets to 1 in favor of Quiggle and Van Gunst.
On the other side we have Hailey (left) and Molly (right)
On the other side in the blue leggings, we have Molly Shaw (left) and Kelly Cheng (right)
Here I am with my friend Molly Shaw
This is my friend Victoria Dennis. She didn't play in the tournament, but she did do some announcing for one of the outer courts
On our side of the net we have Geena Urango (right) and Megan Rice (left)
On the opposite side we have Molly Shaw (left) and Kelly Cheng (right) while our side of the net has Terese Cannon (left) and Megan Kraft (right)
On our side we have Abby Van Winkle (serving) and Savvy Simo (in the hat)
On the opposite side we have Kelly Cheng (at the net) and Molly Shaw (serving). On our side we have Kennedy Coakley (left) and Ashley Patter (right)
Here is Ashley (left) and Kennedy (right)
On our side, we have Megan Rice (left) and Genna Urango (right) while on the other side we have Teegan Van Gunst (left) and Corinne Quiggle (right)
Now we move on to the final day, which includes the finals and semifinals. the first semifinals had Taryn Brasher (you may know her as Taryn Kloth prior to 2025) and Kristen Nuss against Ashley Patter and Kennedy Coakley. This game ended 23-21 and 21-11, both in favor of Brasher and Nuss, giving them a spot in the finals. The second semifinals had Corinne Quiggle and Teegan Van Gunst against Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft. this game would end 21-12 followed by 21-13, both in favor of Cannon and Kraft, giving them a spot in the finals. The finals would end 21-15 in the first (in favor of Cannon and Kraft), 21-18 in the second (in favor of Brasher and Nuss), and 15-13 in the third (in favor of Brasher and Nuss), and giving them the 2-1 victory and also making them the first women's team to win this tournament back-to-back since 2017. For those who don't know, that's when I first started watching the AVP while my first trip to Manhattan Beach for this event was in 2019.
The first semifinal had Kennedy Coakley and Ashley Patter (right) against Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss (left)
second Women's semifinal had Corinne Quiggle and Teegan Van Gunst (left) against Terese Cannon (serving) and Megan Kraft (left of Terese)
Women's final had Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss (left) against Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft (right)
Your 2025 AVP Manhattan Beach Champions, Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss
Here is broadcaster Camryn Irwin. I look to go back to school to one day do what she does. I also met her in 2019 at my first Manhattan Beach Open
Your 2025 (and also 2024) AVP Manhattan Beach Champion, Taryn Brasher
Your 2025 (and also 2024) AVP Manhattan Beach Champion, Kristen Nuss
This concludes the blog covering the women's tournament in Manhattan Beach, California. Next week I will do the men's bracket of this same tournament, so stay tuned for that followed by the AVP League Championships in Chicago that took place over Labor Day weekend. If you prefer college or professional, indoor or beach volleyball, let me know. If you want certain sports or certain indoor college volleyball games covered, let me know and until next time, Miller out
~J. Miller
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