The AVP Huntington Beach Open Heritage Event is just around the corner, and this year’s competition promises to be an electrifying showcase of professional beach volleyball. Scheduled for May 10–11, this prestigious event is the last opportunity for aspiring teams to claim a coveted spot in the 2025 AVP League. With only two of eight AVP League qualification spots remaining, this event will make or break teams’ seasons.

1. How Teams Qualify for the AVP League

Automatic Qualifiers (2024 Top-4 Duos)

• Men’s: Chase Budinger / Miles Evans • Miles Partain / Andy Benesh • Taylor Crabb / Taylor Sander
• Women’s: Geena Urango / Toni Rodriguez • Hailey Harward / Kylie Deberg

Wildcard Invites

Taryn Brasher / Kristen Nuss • Brandie Wilkerson / Melissa Humana-Paredes • Phil Dalhausser / Trevor Crabb

Path to the League
Key Rule: A team’s best two finishes—one of which must be from Huntington Beach—decide the final two leaderboard berths, unless a team wins the Open outright.

1. April 12 & 26 Qualifiers (16-team fields; points count only toward the leaderboard)
   April 12 Winners: Hagen Smith / Logan Webber (M) • Megan Rice / Corinne Quiggle (W)
   April 26 Winners: James Shaw / Chaim Schalk (M) • Lexy Denaberg / Julia Scoles (W)
2. May 10–11 Huntington Beach Open (Heritage Event; full AVP points + one automatic spot)
3. The Final Showdown: Huntington Beach Open

• Format: 16-team single elimination—win four matches and you’re in.
• Men’s and Women’s Frontrunners to Qualify:
  • Men’s: Seain Cook / Brian Miller—two surprise runner-up finishes in April set a high bar.
  • Women’s: Savannah Simo / Abby Van Winkle—consistent leaders who skip Friday’s qualifier.
  • Underdog Twist: Jaden Whitmarsh / Devon Newberry, despite sitting second in points, must battle through Friday’s qualifier—and then the main draw—to keep their bid alive.

2. Where Teams Stand

While exact odds shift with every serve, here’s the pecking order heading into the bracket:

Men’s Qualification Standings:

Women’s Qualification Standings:

What this means: If/when front-runners stumble, the door cracks open for the next wave of title-hungry duos.

3. Breaking the Tie: How League Spots Will Be Decided

In the event of a tie between two or more teams in the standings of the 2025 League Qualification Series for the final spot(s) in the League, the following tiebreak procedures will be applied in order:

1. Huntington Beach Finish – Whoever finishes higher at the Huntington Beach Heritage event moves on to the AVP League.
2. Set Ratio at Huntington Beach – If teams bow out in the same round in Huntington Beach, their set ratio (sets won ÷ sets lost) becomes the decider.
3. Point Ratio at Huntington Beach – Still tied? The next factor is total points scored ÷ points allowed across all Huntington Beach Heritage event matches.
4. Tiebreak Set to 15 – If it’s still even after all that? One winner-take-all set to 15 will be played between the tied teams to determine which team advances.

4. Finish Thresholds at a Glance

To give fans a clear “line in the sand,” we’ve calculated the minimum finish each contender needs—based on where the Men’s and Women’s Frontrunners land—to surpass their total points and grab one of the last two leaderboard spots.

Note: This isn’t a perfect predictor—matchups, momentum, and upsets all matter—but it gives a useful reference for what “deep” really means on the sand.

Example Scenarios:

• If the Front-runners finish 5th, teams sitting one place behind them need a semifinal result, while those near 2,095 must win to qualify.
• If the Front-runners slip to 9th, contenders teams sitting one place behind can possibly lock in a spot by simply reaching the quarterfinals and those teams tied for 4th for the Men and 5th for the women would need to reach the semifinals.

Use these thresholds to track the action: every match for the chasing pack is more than a victory—it’s a ticket closer to the AVP League.

5. How to Watch & Attend

Tickets: This event is open to the public but STADIUM COURT is ticketed and selling fast!

Live-Stream: Watch every play on Stadium and Court 1 live on BallyLIVE (May 10–11).

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That’s unfortunate.

The LSU beach volleyball team wrapped up their season in Gulf Shores Friday with a 3-0 loss to #6 Cal Poly. This is the first time the Tigers have failed to win a game in the NCAA tournament since missing the first tournament altogether. LSU got dominated in the first set on court 1, but the first set on the other four courts went beyond the 21 typically required to win a set. Unfortunately, despite having several chances to close those sets out with a win, LSU dropped the remaining four and put themselves in a hole. The 1s clawed back a win in set 2, but courts 3, 4 and 5 dropped their second sets to end what was an underwhelming season by the program’s lofty standards.

Cal Poly will face #3 Stanford today at 10 a.m. pending delays caused by either the first two quarterfinals running long or, more likely, weather. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be broadcast on ESPN2, and the final is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on ESPN.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Four Missouri State beach volleyball pairs have earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top Flight Award, the organization announced on Friday. MoState’s regular pairs at Flight Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 were honored with the award.

The Top Flight program, now in its seventh year, recognizes beach pairs who compete in at least 15 matches together at a specific flight and win at least 75% of their matches. This year, 88 pairs representing 45 schools—from all three NCAA divisions, NAIA, and Two-Year Colleges—have earned Top Flight status. To qualify for the award, the team’s head coach must be an active AVCA member.

Missouri State is one of three Division I teams to win four AVCA Top Flight Awards, along with Chattanooga and Loyola Marymount. Overall, MoState is one of six schools nationally to win four awards. Carson Newman (DII), Fresno City College (Two-Year) and Santa Monica College (Two-Year) also won the honor on four flights.

Becca Bach and Allyson Larkin earned the award at Flight No. 1. The two boasted a record of 17-9 in 2025, which included a nine-match winning streak to start the season. Bach and Larkin only lost two sets during that stretch. The duo ended the season with a straight-set sweep over UAB’s three-time Conference USA Pair of the Week, Olivia Stant and Jasmine Haas, who each made the All-CUSA First Team. Bach was named to the All-CUSA Second Team on Thursday to become the first Missouri State student-athlete to make a CUSA all-conference team. She finished her career with 53 wins, the second-most in program history. Larkin sits at 42 career wins after her first two seasons, good for seventh all-time in team history.

Missouri State’s all-time winningest duo of MacKenzie Steele and Amanda Cleary earned the Top Flight Award for the first time at Flight No. 2. The two ended with a 17-8 record, including a 1-0 result in the Conference USA Tournament with their win over UAB’s Isabel Day and Azmabeth Infante. Steele and Cleary started the season 10-0 while only dropping two sets during that stretch. The 37 wins Steele and Cleary have amassed over the last two seasons are the most in team history, surpassing the previous record of 35 set by Grace Cook and Chloe Tome. Steele became the fourth Missouri State player to reach 50 career individual wins with the victory against UAB in the conference tournament.

Rylie Cepicky and Manuela Niemeyer also earned their first career AVCA Top Flight Awards with a team-best 20-6 record and a Flight No. 4 record of 20-5. The two became the fifth Missouri State pair to reach 20 wins in a single season. Cepicky and Niemeyer also started the season on a 10-match winning streak and had a separate stretch of seven straight wins to start the season as winners of 17 out of 18 matches. Cepicky was named to the CUSA All-Freshman team on Thursday. Her 20 wins are the second most by a MoState freshman in team history. Niemeyer also won her 50th career match during the conference tournament, the third Bears player to reach that milestone. 

Lastly, Missouri State earned a Top Flight Award at No. 5 for the second straight year. Olivia Rattler and Erin Eschleman received the honor with a 16-9 record together. The two started their time together on a six-match winning streak, then later won seven consecutive matches spanning from late March to mid-April. Rattler went 19-9 as an individual, including going 3-0 to start the season with Riley Drew at Flight No. 5. Rattler became the first Bears player to reach 50 career wins at the start of the season and finished her beach volleyball career with a program record 61 career victories. Eschleman is the first player in team history to win the AVCA Top Flight Award twice. She won it last season at Flight No. 3 alongside then-senior Olivia Muriel when the pair went 24-7.

Missouri State beach volleyball went 18-10 in 2025 to complete its eighth year as a program and second as a Conference USA affiliate. The Bears advanced to the second day of the CUSA Tournament in Louisiana for the second straight season.

 

#BearsUnite

Blue Moon will provide its trusted laundry detergents and cleaning products to support Team AQUA and the Organising Committee as part of the hospitality arrangements for this landmark event.

Blue Moon has supported the Chinese Diving Team on its way to outstanding success in international competitions. The partnership with World Aquatics for the competition in Beijing demonstrates Blue Moon’s commitment to leveraging the huge popularity of diving in China to support the global development of the sport.

The growth of diving around the world has already been seen through the gold medals won by athletes from Mexico and Great Britain on the first two stops of this year’s World Aquatics Diving World Cup.

“Blue Moon, as a partner of the Chinese Diving Team for many years, is honoured to join hands with World Aquatics to become the official event partner for laundry and cleaning products of the World Aquatics Diving World Cup 2025 – Super Final in Beijing. In the future, adhering to the concept of ‘Professional Cleaning’, Blue Moon will continue to support the Chinese Diving Team, and sincerely wish the Chinese Diving Team remarkable success in this event, and look forward to their continuous writing of a glorious chapter for the ‘Dream Team’,” said a Blue Moon spokesperson.

World Aquatics President, Captain Husain Al-Musallam, commented:

“Their support for the Chinese Diving Team over the years shows real passion for our sports, and it’s great to bring that energy to one of our biggest events. We are looking forward to a world-class competition that celebrates our athletes and inspires our community worldwide.”

About Blue Moon

The Blue Moon brand was established in 1992 and has been developed into a leading innovative household cleaning solutions provider in China. The Group has spent relentless effort in focusing on providing the customers with top quality products in fabric care, personal hygiene and home care categories. The Group’s liquid laundry detergent and liquid soap have ranked first in the China Brand Power Index for 14 consecutive years (2011-2024). The Group has stayed true to its consumer-centric brand philosophy and aimed to allow every family to enjoy a clean, healthy, comfortable, respectable and delightful lifestyle. Going forward, the Group will continue to provide comprehensive home cleaning solutions that bring relaxing and efficient cleaning experience to consumers.

About World Aquatics

Driven by the vision of a world united by water for health, life and sport, World Aquatics is the international governing body for aquatic sports. Founded in 1908, World Aquatics is an independent organisation formed of 210 National Federations and five Continental Organisations.   

World Aquatics oversees six aquatic sports – swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving – and is recognised as the leading global authority of these sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). 

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