East Hampton Decides the Cup. Miami Needs to Sweep. Brooklyn Fights to Stay Alive.
The 2026 AVP Cup comes down to a single weekend and a single condition.
Palm Beach Passion finished its regular season at 13-3, the outright Cup leader. Miami Mayhem plays its final event this weekend at East Hampton with a chance to catch them — but only under one exact scenario: Miami must win all four of its East Hampton matches, and at least one of those wins must come in straight sets. Anything less and Palm Beach takes the AVP Cup.
Brooklyn Blaze also plays its final event this weekend, with both pairs on the elimination bubble. San Diego Smash arrives after a 0-4 collapse at Central Park, still fighting to make the playoffs. Austin Aces’ men remain the League’s only winless pair — 0-4 across two events, elimination-eligible this weekend.
Two clinches possible on the men’s side. Six possible on the women’s. Four elimination-eligible teams. East Hampton is the weekend where the most gets decided.
Live broadcasts on CW Saturday afternoon and CBS Sports Network Sunday afternoon, with additional matches on the AVP YouTube Channel across both days. Check the full broadcast below.
The Cup Comes Down to One Weekend and One Condition
Miami Mayhem needs to win all four East Hampton matches. And at least one of those wins must come in straight sets. That’s the whole Cup story.
Palm Beach Passion’s finished its season at 13-3 (81.25%) with 35 match points — the best combined record and the most match points in the League. Miami Mayhem sits at 9-3 (75%) with 26 match points and four East Hampton matches remaining. Miami’s ceiling is 13-3, matching Palm Beach’s record. When Cup contenders finish with matching records, the tiebreaker is match points.
The math is exact. Miami wins matches worth 3 match points (straight-set wins) or 2 (three-set wins). Any 4-0 sweep without a straight-set win falls short of Palm Beach’s total. A 4-0 sweep with at least one straight-set win gets Miami over the top.
Miami plays San Diego Smash and Brooklyn Blaze at East Hampton — two matches against each team, one men’s and one women’s:
Miami Mayhem men vs San Diego Smash men (Saturday 2pm ET CW)
Miami Mayhem women vs San Diego Smash women (Saturday 4pm ET YouTube)
Miami Mayhem women vs Brooklyn Blaze women (Sunday 1pm ET CBSSN)
Miami Mayhem men vs Brooklyn Blaze men (Sunday 4pm ET YouTube).
Every match matters. Every set matters. San Diego Smash and Brooklyn Blaze are the gatekeepers of the AVP Cup.
San Diego Smash arrives at reduced strength. Chase Budinger and Miles Evans went 0-2 at Central Park after entering unbeaten. Megan Rice and Geena Urango went 0-2 as well. Miami will hope the rust from San Diego’s seven-week layoff carries into East Hampton.
The chapter that decides the Cup opens Saturday at 2pm ET on CW with Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh against Chase Budinger and Miles Evans.
Brooklyn Blaze Faces Its Final Event
Both Brooklyn pairs enter East Hampton at 2-4 with their final regular-season event on the sand. Julia Donlin is out with a lingering knee injury; Devon Newberry takes her place alongside Lexy Denaburg for the weekend. Newberry competed with Geena Urango last season after Toni Rodriguez’s season-ending injury, giving her recent AVP League experience.
An 0-2 weekend for either pair doesn’t officially eliminate them. But it ends their control of their own fate.
Brooklyn men (Derek Bradford and Evan Cory) play Austin Aces on Saturday at 3pm ET YouTube and Miami Mayhem on Sunday at 4pm ET YouTube. If they finish East Hampton at 2-6, they survive in only 5 of 64 possible outcomes across the rest of the League — a narrow, specific path requiring Austin to beat LA Launch in Week 8, LA to also lose to San Diego, and Austin to lose to both San Diego and Dallas. That produces a three-way tie at two wins for the sixth spot, and Brooklyn would need to win the tiebreaker.
Brooklyn women (Lexy Denaburg and Devon Newberry) play Austin Aces on Saturday at 1pm ET CW and Miami Mayhem on Sunday at 1pm ET CBSSN. If they finish East Hampton at 2-6, they survive in 20 of 64 possible outcomes — a wider path, but only if San Diego Smash wins at most one of their remaining four matches. In every surviving scenario, Brooklyn finishes tied at the cut line.
Between the outright clinch scenarios and the outright elimination scenarios, most of Brooklyn’s 16 possible East Hampton outcomes leave them walking off the sand with their season decided by results in Week 8. The clinch requires two wins. The elimination requires two losses AND San Diego to win both. Everything in between is a waiting game.
The Women’s Race Finally Breaks
The women’s playoff logjam has held all season. It breaks this weekend.
Six women’s teams can clinch a 2026 playoff spot at East Hampton: Miami Mayhem, Austin Aces, LA Launch, Dallas Dream, San Diego Smash, and Brooklyn Blaze. LA Launch and Dallas Dream aren’t playing this weekend but could still clinch depending on results elsewhere in the field. Two teams can be eliminated: Brooklyn Blaze and New York Nitro.
Miami Mayhem (Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft, 4-2) can clinch with any single East Hampton win. Either match does it — against San Diego on Saturday or against Brooklyn on Sunday. Only losing both leaves them unclinched. Every women’s win Miami gets also feeds the Cup title math.
Austin Aces (Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz, 3-1) can lock in their playoff spot at the opening match of the entire weekend. Their Saturday 1pm ET CW match against Brooklyn Blaze — the first match on the schedule — clinches Austin outright regardless of any other result. Beating Brooklyn does double duty: it puts Austin at four wins and caps Brooklyn at three wins, removing Brooklyn from the chase entirely. Austin has one event remaining after East Hampton (Dallas).
San Diego Smash (Megan Rice and Geena Urango, 1-3) are in real trouble but not the League’s worst position on the women’s side. That distinction goes to New York Nitro women, who finished their season 2-6 and now need outside help and a tiebreaker win. San Diego at 1-3 still has four matches left across East Hampton and Dallas, with a ceiling of 5-3 — a higher ceiling than Brooklyn’s 4-4. But they need to start winning immediately. They face Miami on Saturday and Austin on Sunday.
How to Watch
Saturday, July 25 (ET)
- 1:00 PM — Women: Austin Aces vs Brooklyn Blaze (CW)
- 2:00 PM — Men: Miami Mayhem vs San Diego Smash (CW)
- 3:00 PM — Men: Austin Aces vs Brooklyn Blaze (YouTube)
- 4:00 PM — Women: Miami Mayhem vs San Diego Smash (YouTube)
Sunday, July 26 (ET)
- 1:00 PM — Women: Miami Mayhem vs Brooklyn Blaze (CBSSN)
- 2:00 PM — Women: Austin Aces vs San Diego Smash (CBSSN)
- 3:00 PM — Men: Austin Aces vs San Diego Smash (YouTube)
- 4:00 PM — Men: Miami Mayhem vs Brooklyn Blaze (YouTube)
All YouTube matches stream on the AVP YouTube Channel.
Event Details
The 2026 AVP East Hampton event runs Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26 at EHP Marina & Resort, East Hampton, NY. Doors open at 12:00 PM ET both days. Play runs from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET. For full event details, visit the event page. Get your tickets here.
AVP members get 10% off all event tickets, 25% off AVP merch, and 30% off Wilson volleyballs. Join at members.avp.com.
The Cup runs through Miami. Brooklyn’s season decides itself. The women’s logjam breaks. East Hampton is where it starts to close.
Follow the race to the playoffs at avp.com/league.