The Granddaddy of Them All
Established in 1960, the Manhattan Beach Open is synonymous with the word iconic in the sport of beach volleyball. The Granddaddy of them all returns this Friday through Sunday with the biggest draw of the season and the highest stakes — 64 teams across the two main draws, 160 more fighting Thursday for just 16 qualifier spots, and free general admission on the sand surrounding the Manhattan Beach Pier.
The field carries every storyline the 2026 AVP League season built. The back-to-back Cup champions have split up. The two-time defending women’s champions arrive as the hottest team in the sport. And the men’s #1 seed is a partnership born, improbably, from a shove.
Dallas Set the Chicago Field
Before Manhattan Beach, the regular season closed in Dallas — and Austin Aces rewrote the playoff picture in one weekend.
Austin swept all four of their matches at Comerica Center. The men, who needed to win both matches in straight sets to clinch — the hardest qualifying condition of any team in the field — did exactly that, beating Dallas Dream and LA Launch without dropping a set, including a 28-26 second set against LA that ranks among the longest of the season. Three weeks ago Troy Field and Ryan Wilcox were 0-4. They enter the playoffs as the #5 seed.
The Austin women did even more. Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz swept both matches to finish 5-3 with 14 match points — level with Miami Mayhem on both marks, with Austin holding the head-to-head from their meeting in Miami. That gives Austin the #2 seed in Chicago and the semifinal bye that comes with it.
The host missed. Dallas Dream’s men entered the weekend needing to win just one set across two matches and lost both by sweep, the only scenario that could keep them out. And LA Launch’s women finished level with San Diego Smash on wins and match points, with San Diego holding the head-to-head from Friday night — ending Maddie Anderson and Alaina Chacon’s season one tiebreaker short.
The Chicago fields are set. Men: Miami Mayhem, Palm Beach Passion, San Diego Smash, New York Nitro, Austin Aces, LA Launch. Women: Palm Beach Passion, Austin Aces, Miami Mayhem, Brooklyn Blaze, Dallas Dream, San Diego Smash. The full Championships breakdown — every seed, every bracket path — comes in next week’s blog. Chicago runs September 5-6.
The Men’s Draw: The Push Becomes a Partnership
Two years ago in Chicago, Chase Budinger shoved Trevor Crabb during a side switch on center court. This weekend they are the #1 seed at the Manhattan Beach Open, playing together on US soil for the first time.
The partnership carries more than history. Trevor Crabb is chasing his fifth Manhattan Beach Open title. Budinger is the defending champion — he won it in 2025 with Miles Evans, and with that partnership now split, the 2025 title can only be defended against itself. Evans enters at #9 with Alex Ranghieri; both wild card pairs in the field, Evans/Ranghieri and Phil Dalhausser/Taylor Sander, qualified on points, with wild cards applied for international and seeding reasons.
Dalhausser is the other half of the weekend’s biggest subplot. The most decorated player in AVP history split from Trevor Crabb after their back-to-back Cup titles and enters at the #8 seed with Sander, chasing his eighth Manhattan Beach Open title. If seeds hold, Dalhausser and Trevor Crabb meet Saturday at 8am on stadium court — the Cup-winning partnership, dissolved, colliding in the winners bracket with the loser dropping to the contenders side.
And the brothers are on a collision course again. Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh, fresh off locking the #1 men’s seed for Chicago, are seeded #2. The winners bracket keeps Trevor and Taylor apart until the final. Taylor is chasing his second Manhattan Beach Open title. Benesh is chasing his first.
The Women’s Draw: The Three-Peat Against Everyone Chasing Their First
Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz arrive at the Manhattan Beach Open as the #1 seed, the champions of 2024 and 2025, and the hottest team in the sport — days removed from a four-set sweep in Dallas that took the #2 Chicago seed. This weekend they chase a third consecutive Manhattan Beach Open title.
Across the draw stands everyone still searching for a first one. Megan Kraft and Kelly Cheng, seeded #2 after locking Miami’s Chicago berth, have never won it. Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, seeded #3 and fresh off Palm Beach’s Cup title and the #1 women’s seed for Chicago, have never won it either. Four of the best players in the world, all chasing the one title that has eluded them, all standing between the defending champions and history.
The season-long thread runs through it: Brasher and Cruz lead the career head-to-head with Humana-Paredes and Wilkerson, but Palm Beach took their Central Park meeting in straight sets on CBS. If the bracket delivers the rematch, it will be for a place in Manhattan Beach history.
The League Remix
The Heritage draw shuffles the League partnerships, and the best new pairing writes itself: Savvy Cory and Devon Newberry, seeded #5, together. The two most consequential substitutes of the 2026 season — Cory went 2-0 filling in for Palm Beach in Vegas, Newberry went 2-0 at East Hampton and swung the AVP Cup — are now partners. Their side of the bracket could cross Lexy Denaburg’s in the round of 16.
Denaburg enters at #4 with Terese Cannon, the two-year AVP League athlete and former LA Launch player returning from January shoulder surgery. Julia Donlin, Denaburg’s Brooklyn Blaze partner, continues recovering from her knee injury with a target of returning for Chicago, where Brooklyn holds the #4 seed.
New York Nitro’s pair splits into two entries — Toni Rodriguez at #13 with Isabella Martinez, Molly Shaw at #10 with Molly Phillips.
How to Attend and Watch
Thursday, August 13: On-site qualifier — 160 teams, 16 spots. Walk of Fame ceremony on the Manhattan Beach Pier at 3:30pm.
Friday, August 14: Main draw opening rounds. Competition begins at 8am. Box office opens at 7am, ticketed areas at 7:30am. All courts stream on the AVP YouTube Channel.
Saturday, August 15: Elimination rounds through the semifinals, 8am start. Stadium and feature courts stream on Bally Sports Live and AVP YouTube.
Sunday, August 16: Semifinals and finals on stadium court. Live on CBS Sports Network from 1:00-3:00 PM ET and CW from 4:00-6:30 PM ET.
Admission is free all weekend, with reserved ticketed seating available. Get tickets here.
AVP members get 10% off all event tickets, 25% off AVP merch, and 30% off Wilson volleyballs. Join at members.avp.com.
Who will cement their name in history on the Manhattan Beach Pier this year? Sixty-six years of champions are about to find out who joins them. And in three weeks, Chicago crowns the rest — the full AVP League Championships breakdown lands in next week’s blog.
Follow it all at avp.com.