Ep. 3: Laguna's Last Dance

Tori: Welcome back to Sideout AI. I'm Tori. Cooper: And I'm Cooper, coming to you from St. Petersburg, Florida. It's Friday, September eighteenth, and the last AVP of the year starts today. Tori: The headlines. Laguna is here. Entries are final, the qualifier is on the sand right now, and Brazil's number one team might be walking into the main draw. Cooper: Germany's AY-lers and VIK-ler split after five years. Olympic silver medalists. Done. Tori: TruVolley had a shakeup. mylz par-TAYN jumped twenty nine spots after Hermosa. Cooper: And the World Tour season is winding down, with Futures ball in Italy and a stadium show in Utrecht. Tori: Sideout AI is presented by Meta Muse. Let's get into it. Cooper: The Progressive AVP Laguna Open. Laguna Beach, California. September eighteenth through twentieth. Heritage Series. And it's the final AVP event of twenty twenty six. Tori: The world's longest running beach volleyball tournament. Free to the public, streaming on Bally Sports Live. Sixteen team main draws, true double elimination, Saturday and Sunday. The qualifier is today, Friday, with four spots a side up for grabs. Cooper: And one honest note before we go any further. We could not verify a purse for this one. Nothing on avp dot com, nothing on Volleyball Life. So we're not citing a number. If you see one posted, send it our way. Tori: Forty four women's teams and fifty four men's teams registered. Here are the seeds that matter. Women's side first. Cooper: One seed, KEH-lee cheng and MEH-gan kraft. The Hermosa champs. Undefeated in Hermosa. Chasing back to back titles to close the season. Tori: Two seed, SAV-ee KOR-ee and DEV-in NOO-beh-ree. The Hermosa finalists. They lost to cheng and kraft twice on Sunday. They are coming for the rematch. Cooper: Three, MAD-uh-lin AN-der-son and ah-LAY-nuh chah-KOHN. Four, MOL-ee SHAW and duh-VAN SORZ. Five, tuh-REES KAN-un and BET-see flint. Six, MEH-gan ryse and AB-ee van WIN-kul. Tori: Seven, TOH-nee roh-DREE-gez and JEE-nuh oo-RAN-go. Eight, KLOH-ee loh-REEN and koh-RIN KWIG-ul. Nine is the sneaky one. AL-ee BAY-ten-horst and SAIR-uh HEWZ. Hughes is a two time Olympian. Nobody wants to see that team in their pool. Cooper: Ten, KY-lee duh-BERG reunited with HAY-lee HAR-ward ZAH-kuh, her twenty twenty five League partner. And eleven, MAY-see JER-ger and KAI-ruh ZAYN-gul. Tori: Men's side. One seed, AN-dee BEN-esh and TAY-ler KRAB. They won Huntington Beach. They won Manhattan Beach. They won Hermosa. That's three California titles this summer. Laguna would make it a clean sweep of the state. Cooper: Two seed, chayss BUD-in-jer and TREH-ver KRAB. The League champions. Three, jaymz SHAW and RY-an WIL-koks. Four, mylz EH-vinz and uh-LEKS rahn-GYEH-ree. Tori: Five, EH-vin KOR-ee and troy FEELD. Six, KOH-dee KAWD-wel and kaym shalk. Seven, TAY-oh BRUN-er and pawl LAHT-mun. Eight, HAY-gun smith and LOH-gun WEB-er. Ten, shawn kuk and wil RAHT-mun. Cooper: Nine is listed as JAY-kub lah-bool-YAIR and mylz par-TAYN. But here's the wrinkle. Sandcast reported this week that lah-bool-YAIR is hurt, and par-TAYN subbed in TRAH-vis myoo-HWER-ter for Laguna. The official entry list hasn't caught up yet, so we're flagging it. If the nines play, watch that team. If it's par-TAYN and myoo-HWER-ter, watch them harder. Tori: And the internationals. The AVP preview names three international entries we don't see in the official list yet, so treat these as expected, not confirmed. Women's number three international, tah-MEL-uh kor-ah-DELL-oh and vik-TOR-ee-uh LOH-pez from Brazil. The Bello brothers, hwan en-REE-keh BEH-yoh and hwah-KEEN BEH-yoh, from England. And men's number three international, mah-TEE-ahs BURN-sen and HEN-drik MOHL from Norway. Cooper: That's Brazil's number one team walking onto an AVP beach. kor-ah-DELL-oh and LOH-pez won AVP Huntington Beach this year. They won Montreal on the World Tour. They are the real deal, and they are coming for the one seed. Tori: And the Norwegians. AHN-ders MOHL is heading indoors to play for Rana Verona in Italy this winter, so the Viking era is on pause. But HEN-drik MOHL and BURN-sen are a legit World Tour team, and Laguna gets them. Cooper: The qualifier is live as we record. Four spots a side. On the women's side, the teams to watch are HOH-del and van GUNST at twelve, and kah-vahl-KAHN-chee and TROY-mahn, the pair that took down a three seed in Hermosa. On the men's side, BROO-ster and ee-ER-nah at eleven, kar-VAHL-yes and see-rah-GOO-sah at sixteen, and rih-VAIR-uh and roh-SICH at thirty one, the comeback kids from the Hermosa qualifier. Tori: Across the pond. The twenty twenty six World Tour season is basically in the books. Eight Elite sixteens, seven Challenges, more than thirty Futures. Montreal was the last Elite sixteen. Cooper: But there's still ball in the air. Futures Corigliano Rossano, Italy. September seventeenth through twentieth. In progress right now. Tori: Men's seeds. One, Viscovich and Borraccino from Italy. Two, Andreatta and Acerbi. Three, Rossi and Lupo. Four, meh-hahn-JEES-kee and KAHL-chev from Bulgaria, the Budapest finalists. Cooper: The qualifier ate again. On Thursday, TOO-far and pahv-LOO-sek bounced the top qualifier seed, Ludwig and Hüper from Germany, in three. And sin-KEH-vi-chus and LOH-sis from Lithuania bounced the two seed, Smørholm and Mathys from Norway, in three. Tori: Friday pool play. Pool A, Reinhardt and Sievers, the nine seed, swept Verberne and Maurice, the eight seed qualifiers, twenty one twelve, twenty two twenty. The one seed, Viscovich and Borraccino, needed three sets against the wild cards. Cooper: Pool B, Kozii and Nahornyi, the seven seed from Ukraine, over van der Wel and Bezemer in two. Andreatta and Acerbi, the two seed, handled the qualifier TOO-far and pahv-LOO-sek in two. Tori: Pool C had the upset. Schinko and Kulis, the eleven seed from Czechia, swept Korsakov and Dobcis, the six seed, twenty one fourteen, twenty one seventeen. Seed gap of five. Rossi and Lupo, the three seed, took care of the Lithuanian qualifiers in two. Cooper: Pool D, Hajós and Niemeier, the five seed from Hungary, came back in three over the Italian qualifiers Marchetto and Burgmann. And meh-hahn-JEES-kee and KAHL-chev, the four seed, swept their qualifier in two. Tori: Women's side. Pool A, Giulia and Carol from Brazil, the one seed, two and oh, and they haven't been touched. Hunt and Van Winkle, the eight seed Americans, swept the French qualifiers in two. Cooper: Pool B, Robitaille and Hladyniuk from Canada, the two seed, two and oh. Pool C, Gromadowska and Adamek from Poland, the six seed, two and oh. And the three seed, Tsubouchi and Oto from Japan, got clipped twice. Johansson and Madestam, the eleven seed Swedish qualifiers, beat them in three. Then Fezzi and Belliero Piccinin, the fourteen seed Italians, beat them in two. Tori: Pool D, Dieckmann and Schulz from Germany, the five seed, upset Ditta and Mattavelli, the four seed Italians, in three. Eighteen twenty one, twenty one fifteen, fifteen eleven. Cooper: Round of twelve goes Saturday. We'll have the medals for you next week. Tori: Also last week, the CEV under twenty two European Championships in Spain. Men's champs, Auziņš and Fokerots from Latvia, the two seed, over Piesina and Sinkevicius from Lithuania in two. Women's champs, the Konstantinidou sisters from Cyprus, the two seed, over Prins and Schepers from Belgium in three. Cooper: And in Utrecht, Queen and King of the Court is running September seventeenth through twentieth. Cross national pairings, stadium show, loud music. We'll see who survives it. Tori: Grass check. Quiet week. The Carolina Grass Championship is this weekend, September nineteenth and twentieth, but it's an entry fee event with no published purse, so it doesn't clear our ten thousand dollar bar. Next on the radar, Gainesville, Florida, October twenty third through twenty fifth. The triples purse is ten thousand eight hundred dollars. Cooper: AVP Next. Same story. The fall stops are all eight thousand and four thousand dollars. Nothing clears the bar. Tori: The Scene. Partner news. And it's a big one. nilz AY-lers and KLAY-mens VIK-ler from Germany split. After five years. Announced September tenth. Cooper: Olympic silver medalists in Paris. Fourth at the World Championships last year. One of the best teams in the world for half a decade, and they're done. No new partners announced yet. Tori: TruVolley check. The week's biggest movers. Up, mylz par-TAYN, up twenty nine spots to forty one, thirteen thirty five, after that Hermosa final run. moh-RITZ pris-TAUZ-TEL-snig, up sixteen to thirty seven. FIL-ip VAH-ler, up fourteen to thirty. Cooper: Down, steh-FAN BOOR-mahns, down eighteen to fifty. eh-VAHN-droh, down fourteen to forty six. tim BER-ger, down seven to forty seven. Tori: And the Laguna headliners. KEH-lee cheng, thirteen fifty one, up three to twenty six. MEH-gan kraft, thirteen forty three, up four to thirty four. As a team, they're eighteenth in the world at thirteen forty seven. AN-dee BEN-esh, thirteen forty three, down three to thirty five. chayss BUD-in-jer, thirteen forty, down two to thirty six. Cooper: Player Spotlight of the Week. Presented by Meta Muse. Tori: This week it's tah-MEL-uh kor-ah-DELL-oh. Twenty six years old. Six feet. Piúma, Brazil. Cooper: And she is the best player in the world right now. Full stop. In twenty twenty five, she and vik-TOR-ee-uh LOH-pez finished the year ranked number one in the world. kor-ah-DELL-oh was voted the Women's Beach Pro Tour Most Improved Player, which is absurd, because you can't improve on number one. But she did. Tori: The twenty twenty five numbers. Forty eight and twenty one. Five medals. Two golds, two silvers, a bronze. Fourth at the World Championships. She outblocked her opponents two hundred twenty five to one ninety eight, and she passed in system on eighty four percent of nearly eighteen hundred passes. Cooper: The resume. Prague twenty twenty one with Elize Maia. Cape Town twenty twenty two with Talita Antunes, straight sets over Sponcil and Cannon. Then the LOH-pez era. João Pessoa twenty twenty four. Saquarema twenty twenty five. Ostrava twenty twenty five. Montreal twenty twenty six. And AVP Huntington Beach twenty twenty six. Tori: Career winnings over two hundred twenty thousand dollars. Six titles. And with LOH-pez, she already locked up Brazil's Olympic quota for LA twenty twenty eight. Cooper: And this weekend, she walks onto the sand in Laguna Beach as the most decorated player in the draw. If cheng and kraft want back to back titles, they might have to go through Brazil's number one team to get it. Tori: Picks. The season ends Sunday, so these are the last picks of twenty twenty six. And after Laguna, there is nothing over ten thousand dollars next weekend. The beach goes quiet. Cooper: On the ratings, the women's pick is the one seed. cheng and kraft. Thirteen forty seven as a team, eighteenth in the world, both trending up, undefeated at Hermosa. That's the ratings pick and that's my pick. Tori: Same. cheng and kraft. But if KOR-ee and NOO-beh-ree get their Sunday rematch, I'm watching every single point. Men's side, same logic. BEN-esh and TAY-ler KRAB. The one seed. The sweep bid. BEN-esh is the highest rated verified man in the field at thirteen forty three. Cooper: And I'm with you. BEN-esh and TAY-ler KRAB. Three California titles already. Make it four. Close the season. Tori: Chaos watch, though. BUD-in-jer and TREH-ver KRAB are the two seed and they just won the League. And if the Norwegian wild cards land in the draw, HEN-drik MOHL and BURN-sen can beat anybody on a Saturday. Cooper: That's the show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Friday. Tori: Sideout AI is presented by Meta Muse. See you on the sand.