VolleyballMag’s favorite beach volleyball stories from 2023
Beach
Travis Mewhirter
December 27, 2023
Zana Muno dials in at the AVP Heromosa Beach Open/Mark Rigney photo
HERMOSA BEACH, California — It’s time again to take an inventory of some of our best, most in-depth and intriguing work from the 2023 beach volleyball season. From mostly unknowns who overcame cancer and became an AVP champion to veterans and World Champions who are after something no medal can satiate — peace — our stories ranged far and wide.
Chicken farmers?
We had that.
Long-awaited Manhattan Beach Open winners?
Those, too.
The exceptionally rare husband-wife-coach-player dynamic? Done, with Kelly and Jordan Cheng. Thrilling, late-night game-stories from a little-known town in Mexico? Check, kudos of a heavy dose of p.m. heroics from Chase Budinger and Miles Evans.
It has been, as every year on the beach is, a blast bringing coverage from tournaments all around the world, from Asia to Mexico to our backyard in Hermosa Beach, California.
Enjoy our favorite volleyball stories of 2023. VolleyballMag.com editor Lee Feinswog will have a list of our favorite and most well-read indoor stories on Thursday.
One of the most popular players in the beach volleyball world, Zana Muno raises chickens, plays — and succeeds — with a wide variety of partners, and channels an energy she calls “Hooptidoodah.” A fun look at one of the most talented defenders on the AVP Tour.
Sarah Pavan has accomplished nearly everything there is to accomplish on a beach volleyball court. World Championship? Commonwealth Games gold? No. 1 world ranking? Most decorated Canadian blocker of all-time? She holds all of those titles, yet she’s seeking something else, something more: Peace.
Miles Partain celebrates a win at the Dubai Challenger/Volleyball World photo
One of the most intriguing players in the world is 22-year-old Miles Partain. His rise through the world ranks, from Challenge qualifiers to a top-five team on the Beach Pro Tour, was extraordinary. He views his talent not as his own, but as a “spark from God.” His job is simply to fan it into flame.
Audrey Nourse jumps for joy as she and Nicole win their match and turn to their teammates/Matt Smith photo
USC did it again, winning its third NCAA National Collegiate Beach Championship in a row. USC might not have been the favorite going into the tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama, but it rallied time and time again and when it was over, made the sprint into the Gulf of Mexico.
The epitome of what it means to be a Qualifier Guy, JD Hamilton had been playing in qualifiers since 2015, to no avail. When he alas broke through at the Virginia Beach Tour Series, punching his ticket into the Hermosa Beach Pro Series, he officially became a main draw player. That was, somehow, one of the easiest challenges he’s ever overcome. His story is one of otherworldly perseverance, from poverty, neglect, and murder to a loving father, doting husband, and successful man.
We wouldn’t blame you if you turned off Betsi Flint’s and Julia Scoles’ Montreal Elite16 quarterfinal against Ana Patricia and Duda. Flint’s own husband did, after all, when Flint and Scoles went down a seemingly insurmountable 8-14 in the third set. What happened next is, perhaps, one in a million? But to quote the great Lloyd Christmas: “So you’re saying there’s a chance!” There was a chance, and they made it happen, stunning the world No. 1 en route to an eventual silver medal.
Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles celebrate a point at the Montreal Elite16/Volleyball World photo
It was only a matter of time. Easy for fans and writers to say. Impossible for Taylor Crabb to match it. How many opportunities could he get to win a Manhattan Beach Open? As the years added up, the chances were reduced in kind, until this year, when Crabb and Taylor Sander alas exorcised the demons and etched their named onto the Manhattan Beach Pier.
Jordan and Kelly Cheng live dream lives: Traveling the world, playing and coaching beach volleyball, winning World Championships and raking in prize money. It’s beautiful, yes, but also difficult beyond measure to balance the trickiest of dynamics: player-coach-husband-wife.
We love it when Tom Feuer offers his thoughts on the state of beach volleyball. In October, he wrote:
“The World Championships in Tlaxcala, Mexico proved to be a cosmically redemptive experience for many, but most especially for Sara Hughes, Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, Jonatan Hellvig, and last, but not least, USA Volleyball as a whole.
There are also some changes the beach-volleyball world has to make and we’ll get to that later and also offer some complaints and recommendations.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of intrigue left on the final evening of pool play at the World Championships: Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner would advance, as would George and Andre of Brazil. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, late entrants into the event, gave it the ole college try but would need a blowout over Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik by a measure that was surely impossible. And then, as the eleventh hour struck, so did a stunning result, turning Crabb and Brunner’s match, a seeming formality, into a win-or-go-home. A full 360 retelling of a chaotic night in Mexico.
Was this year my most successful as a player? Nope. Easiest? Definitely not. But it was, for both obvious reasons (having a son) and not (playing with double-digit partners), 2023 was the “most special” year to date for my volleyball career.
Editor’s note: We just got the 2023 edition of “The Year’s Best Sports Writing” and Travis’ year-end story about the 2022 season was included! It’s very exciting for us and Travis, who continues to nail those year-end pieces. You can read that article here.
