The 2026 AVP League opens the second half of its season this weekend in Long Beach, CA.
No other stop on the calendar concentrates this much elimination pressure. All four teams in the field — LA Launch, Brooklyn Blaze, Miami Mayhem, and Dallas Dream — arrive with a men’s pair, a women’s pair, or both directly in the playoff bubble. And Long Beach is the second-to-last event for every one of them.
Three storylines carry the weekend. Miami Mayhem and Dallas Dream can climb to 9-3 in the AVP Cup race with a Long Beach sweep — but they play each other. LA Launch and Brooklyn Blaze meet in a men’s bubble match where the loser’s playoff hopes narrow. And on the women’s side, every team in the field can end the weekend either level with Palm Beach’s record or at the bottom of the logjam heading into the finale.
Live broadcasts on CW, CBS Sports Network, and the AVP YouTube Channel across Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The exact broadcast schedule is below.
The Centerpiece: Miami vs Dallas Men on Sunday Afternoon
Sunday 4pm PT on YouTube is where the weekend settles. It is the deciding match in three separate storylines at once.
The ex-partners reunion. Andy Benesh and Miles Partain played together at the 2024 Paris Olympics. They split after 2024. Sunday delivers the first and only regular season meeting between them all year. Benesh now plays for Miami Mayhem alongside Taylor Crabb. Partain has reunited with Paul Lotman for Dallas Dream.
The Cup race decider. Miami and Dallas both enter Long Beach at 5-3 on the AVP Cup standings — tied for third at 62.5%. If either team sweeps all four of their Long Beach matches across both genders, they climb to 9-3 and level with Palm Beach Passion’s combined record. Because Miami and Dallas meet head-to-head on Sunday, only one of them can sweep. Palm Beach is idle in Week 5 with only Central Park remaining, meaning after Long Beach all three teams would have one event left. Miami’s finale is East Hampton. Dallas’s is their home event. Palm Beach’s is New York.
The same sweep would also pull both of the sweeping team’s pairs level with Palm Beach’s individual records: the men to 5-1, the women to 4-2.
The stat-leader showcase. Miles Partain leads the men’s league in kills per set at 7.00 — 1.65 kills per set clear of Chaim Schalk in second (5.35). It’s a staggering gap. The driver is Dallas Dream’s aggressive over-on-two scheme, which Lotman and Partain have run consistently to a 3-1 start. Partain also sits fourth in the league in hitting percentage (.475), a mark that is very high for a defender. Across the net, Taylor Crabb leads the league in both hitting percentage (.557) and digs per set (4.78) — the only player at either stat’s top spot. Andy Benesh sits third in blocks per set (1.222) and third in aces per set (.556).
Both pairs also enter Long Beach at 3-1, each needing two wins in their four remaining matches to clinch a playoff spot. Sunday delivers that math for both.
The Women’s Race: Every Team Can End the Weekend Level With Palm Beach — Or at the Bottom of the Logjam
Every team in the women’s field arrives at 2-2. Every team plays two matches. That means every team leaves Long Beach with either a 4-2, 3-3, or 2-4 record — and the difference between those outcomes is the difference between chasing Palm Beach at the top of the women’s standings and dropping to the bottom of the logjam heading into the finale.
A sweep at Long Beach means 4-2 — level with Palm Beach Passion on record. Any of the four teams here — LA Launch’s Maddie Anderson and Alaina Chacon, Brooklyn Blaze’s Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin, Miami Mayhem’s Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft, or Dallas Dream’s Kylie DeBerg and Betsi Flint — can achieve this. Because of how the schedule pairs the four teams, two of them can sweep at once: either LA and Dallas or Brooklyn and Miami. Three sweeping is impossible.
Losing both means 2-4 — the bottom of the logjam. With only one event left afterward, whichever team goes 0-2 arrives at their finale needing to win most of their remaining matches to stay in the playoff field. Two teams could drop to 2-4 in the same combinations that could sweep — the flip side of the same coin.
Splitting means 3-3. The middle path. Still alive at 50%, but with the runway shortening.
Four of the five women’s teams tied at 50% meet at Long Beach. San Diego Smash’s Megan Rice and Geena Urango are the only logjam team not in the field. The four women’s matches:
Saturday 1:30pm PT CW — LA Launch vs Brooklyn Blaze. Anderson and Chacon face the reigning 2025 AVP League Champions. Anderson leads the women’s league in aces per set (1.000). Chacon leads the league in digs per set (7.42). Both hold the top mark in the league in their category.
Saturday 3:30pm PT YouTube — Miami Mayhem vs Dallas Dream. Kraft sits second in hitting percentage (.488). Flint sits third in digs per set (4.90).
Sunday 1pm PT CBSSN — LA Launch vs Miami Mayhem. Two of the tightest offensive units in the field.
Sunday 2pm PT CBSSN — Brooklyn Blaze vs Dallas Dream. The final women’s match of the weekend closes out the logjam reshuffling.
Leverage per match is at a season high. Every result carries forward — a win doesn’t just add to the record, it removes a win from a direct rival and lightens what that team needs at its finale.
The Bubble Fight: LA Launch vs Brooklyn Blaze Men
Sunday 3pm PT on YouTube delivers the highest-leverage men’s match of the weekend outside the centerpiece.
Both pairs enter at 1-3. LA Launch’s Hagen Smith and Logan Webber and Brooklyn Blaze’s Derek Bradford and Evan Cory are separated only by match points on the men’s standings. Six of eight teams reach the playoffs. Each needs to win most of their remaining matches to clinch on their own.
It’s the highest-leverage men’s match for two reasons. First, it’s the second-to-last event for both pairs, so the loser has little room left to recover. Second, it’s the most winnable match on each team’s card — each has been drawn against a 3-1 opponent in their other Long Beach match (LA vs Miami on Saturday, Brooklyn vs Dallas on Saturday). LA vs Brooklyn is the game each is most likely to win, and the one each most needs to.
Smith sits second in the men’s league in aces per set (1.1) — a distinctive weapon for LA Launch coming out of the service line. Webber sits second in blocks per set (1.5), giving LA one of the league’s stronger interior duos. But the same numbers haven’t translated to wins yet, and Brooklyn’s Bradford and Cory sit in the same position after playing many of the same opponents.
Two teams tied on the bubble, playing the one match that most decides which of them stays in it.
Saturday Opens With the Rookies vs Reigning Champs
Before the Sunday-night stakes settle, Saturday delivers a matchup with its own story. Maddie Anderson and Alaina Chacon face Lexy Denaburg and Julia Donlin on CW at 1:30pm PT — the rookies against the reigning League champions.
Anderson and Chacon are 2-2 across two events. After a 2-0 debut at Belmar, they dropped both their Vegas matches — to Palm Beach Passion and Dallas Dream — but each loss went to three sets and stayed competitive. Denaburg and Donlin are the defending 2025 AVP League Champions, sitting at 2-2 in the women’s logjam. It is the pair’s first look at the reigning champions on their home coast.
Both pairs open the weekend with the same 2-2 record. Both leave Saturday with a different one.
How to Watch
Saturday, July 11 (PT)
- 1:30pm — Women: LA Launch vs Brooklyn Blaze (CW)
- 2:30pm — Men: LA Launch vs Miami Mayhem (CW)
- 3:30pm — Women: Miami Mayhem vs Dallas Dream (YouTube)
- 4:30pm — Men: Brooklyn Blaze vs Dallas Dream (YouTube)
Sunday, July 12 (PT)
- 1:00pm — Women: LA Launch vs Miami Mayhem (CBSSN)
- 2:00pm — Women: Brooklyn Blaze vs Dallas Dream (CBSSN)
- 3:00pm — Men: LA Launch vs Brooklyn Blaze (YouTube)
- 4:00pm — Men: Miami Mayhem vs Dallas Dream (YouTube)
All YouTube matches stream on the AVP YouTube Channel.
Event Details
The 2026 AVP Long Beach event runs Saturday and Sunday, July 11-12 at Long Beach, CA (700 E Shoreline Dr). Doors open at 12:30pm on Saturday, 12:00pm on Sunday. Play begins at 1:30pm Saturday and 1:00pm Sunday. 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.
Long Beach. Second-to-last event. Every match carries weight. This is where the second half of the 2026 AVP League season starts to settle.
Follow the race to the playoffs at avp.com/league.