Ep. 7: Grass Nationals Preview

Tori: What's up, beach fam, it's Tori. Cooper: And Cooper, with you as always. This is Sideout AI, the week in beach volleyball, coming at you from St. Petersburg, Florida. Tori: It's Friday, October sixteenth, and a quick word from the folks who make this show possible. Sideout AI is presented by Meta Muse — the AI that does our digging, checks our numbers, and keeps our takes honest. Cooper: Strong. All right, headlines this week: it's a quiet one on the domestic side, folks. No event over ten thousand dollars wrapped this week, none tees up this weekend, so we're taking the show on the road. Tori: That's right. First up, the World Tour in Alanya, Turkey, where pool play just wrapped and the qualifiers are absolutely making noise — including a ten-seed that just roofed the number-two seed. Cooper: Then it's all eyes on Gainesville. AVP Grass Nationals, next weekend, October twenty-third through twenty-fifth — twenty-one thousand dollars guaranteed, final entrant lists are locked, and one notable pro is advertised on the event page but nowhere on the entry list. We'll get into it. Tori: Plus our Player Spotlight of the Week, presented by Meta Muse, and our ratings-based picks for what's left of Alanya and next weekend in Gainesville. Let's get into it.

Cooper: Segment one, the US tour recap. And honestly, Tori, this is the shortest domestic recap we've ever done. Tori: Because there is nothing to recap, Coop. No AVP pro event, no AVP America event, no AVP Next event, and no grass event over ten thousand dollars concluded between October ninth and today. Verified across the AVP twenty twenty-six schedules and the full volleyballlife event board. The pro tour's last completed stop was Laguna, September eighteenth through twentieth. Cooper: Now, just under our ten-thousand bar, there was one event worth mentioning, because a couple of names in the results will come up again later. The South Beach AVP Next, October tenth and eleventh, Miami Beach, Florida — eight thousand dollars on the line, so below our cutoff, but here's the board. Men's champions: Markus Koeppke and Jake MacNeil. Women's champions: Andrea Da Silva Encinas and Lydia Smith. Final set scores weren't published on the official results page, so we're sticking to the outcomes. Tori: And a fun one for the locals, Coop — third place on the men's side went to Bryce Mayer and our very own Tyler Penberthy. Yeah, that Tyler Penberthy. A podium at an AVP Next. We see you. Cooper: Respect. Keep that form rolling — you'll need it next week. Tori: As for this weekend, October seventeenth and eighteenth — nothing over ten thousand, domestic or grass. The cashiest-sounding name on the board is the BIG CASH GRASS OPEN, Saturday at Braden River Park in Bradenton, Florida — but it's one hundred percent payout of entry fees, a hundred bucks a team in the Open, no fixed purse. Not our bar. Cooper: So the domestic scene is in a holding pattern — one holding pattern, ending next Friday in Gainesville. We'll preview it. But first, the World Tour.

Tori: All right, segment two: World Tour, grass, and the scene. We go to Alanya, Turkey, for the BPT Futures — October fifteenth through eighteenth, and note this, it's the final Futures event of twenty twenty-six. Main draw started today, Friday, with the round of twelve and quarterfinals landing Saturday and semis plus finals Sunday. Cooper: And the qualifiers came to play on Thursday. Let's start with the men. Five qualifier teams punched into the main draw: Bezu and Hypolyte of France, who took down Witkoś and Dymczyk of Poland in three; Trummer and Sponer of Austria over Boyd and Huber, two love; Hohenauer and Poinstingl of Austria over Hunady and Petruf in three; and the Germans, Hikel and Pieper, two love over Helgerud and Pande of Norway. Tori: Hold that thought on Hikel and Pieper, because they did not stop at the qualifier. Pool play today, and the German qualifiers stunned the five seeds, Bērziņš and Berzins of Latvia — twenty-one to sixteen, twenty-three to twenty-one. A qualifier over a five seed, in straight sets. Cooper: The men's top seeds, for context: number one, Özdemir and Kuru of Turkey, clean in pool play — two love over Trummer and Sponer, twenty-one to eleven, twenty-one to seventeen. Number two, Liu and Mao of China. Number three, Nemec and Jancok of Slovakia, two love as well. Number four, Klemen and Holzinger of Austria. Tori: And the elephant in the men's draw: Penninga and Boehlé of the Netherlands were entered as the two seed last week — and they withdrew. Gone. So the draw opened up. Cooper: Tough scene for the Americans, Tori. Krohn and Soule lost qualifier round one to Bezu and Hypolyte — ten to twenty-one, twelve to twenty-one. Jensen and Matautia withdrew. Zero USA teams in the men's main draw. Tori: Women's side, Coop, and here's your headline upset. Brazil's Andressa Cavalcanti and Thais Treumann — the ten seeds — just beat the two seeds, Riko and Kikuchi of Japan, two love: twenty-one to eighteen, twenty-one to fourteen. And they did it the same day they beat the seven seeds, Luini and Essink, twenty-four to twenty-two, twenty-one to thirteen. That's a ten seed going two and oh with a top-two scalp. Cooper: For the record, say it right: ahn-DREH-suh kah-vahl-KAHN-chee and tah-EES TROY-mahn. Tori: And Pool D was a crime scene for the four seeds. Simdim and Yener of Turkey, in as a wild card — beaten by the thirteen seeds Candela and Pally, two love, and beaten again by the Latvian qualifiers Krūklīte and Zakite, twenty-one to sixteen, twenty-one to eleven. Tori: The one seeds held serve, though. Jiang and Zhou of China — two love over Reginova and Kapralova of Slovakia, then two love over Grudzinskaite and Krizanauskaite of Lithuania, the same Lithuanians who took third in Budapest off the qualifier. Jiang and Zhou: twenty-one to twelve, twenty-one to eighteen, then twenty-one to thirteen, twenty-one to sixteen. Business. Cooper: Women's qualifier advancers, quick: Kadeliye and Wang of China; Reginova and Kapralova of Slovakia — who edged our Americans Peranich and Horton in three, twenty-two to twenty, fourteen to twenty-one, fifteen to eleven; plus Krieva and Bērziņa of Latvia, Bernard and Guignan of France, Qi and Zhuang, and Krūklīte and Zakite. Tori: And the rest of the American women: Bremel and Jadus lost qualifier round one to Krieva and Bērziņa — twelve to twenty-one, fourteen to twenty-one. Gerasimova and Speckhals withdrew. So no USA teams in the women's main draw either. Rough week for the stars and stripes in Alanya. Cooper: Purse note, because people always ask: Alanya pays per gender — fifteen hundred dollars to the winners, ten fifty to second, seven fifty to third, six hundred to fourth. It's a Futures, it's about the points — four hundred to the champs. Tori: Now the grass. AVP Grass Nationals, Gainesville, Florida, High Springs Sports Complex, next weekend — October twenty-third through twenty-fifth. Twenty-one thousand dollars guaranteed, and the purse is unchanged from what we reported last week. Triples, Saturday October twenty-fourth: ten thousand eight hundred total, fifty-four hundred per gender — first pays three thousand, second twelve hundred, third six hundred. Men's and women's twos, Friday October twenty-third: eight thousand total, four thousand per gender — first two thousand, second one thousand, third five hundred. RevCo and Juniors twos: twenty-two hundred. Cooper: Entrant lists are final — registrations closed at five PM Eastern today. Twenty-five men's twos teams, sixteen women's twos teams, twenty-four men's triples, thirteen women's triples. Seeds aren't drawn yet, so we're going in name-blind, but some names jump off the page. Men's twos: Benji Andexler and Jake MacNeil — remember that name, we'll come back to him. Kevin Coyle and Tristan Register. Women's twos: Lauren Stefan and Danai Stone, Bri Barker and Rachel Fletcher, Chloee Kleespies and MacKenzie Kleespies. Tori: Triples, men's: In System Black — Andexler, Ryan Ierna, and MacNeil again, the man's playing everything. Pelican City — Pedro Carvalho, Carlos Jimenez, and Sami Jindyeh, our backyard squad. Wolfgang from GOVC. TEAM CCVL White with Coyle and Register. Women's triples: the Goofy Goobers — Lydia Smith, Devanne Sours, and Teegan Van Gunst. Smith fresh off that South Beach title. Cooper: And here's the mystery, Tori. The men's twos event page advertises, and I quote, "watch and play against AVP pro Troy Field at the event." But Troy Field does not appear on the men's twos entrant list as displayed. So — is he playing, or is he just the poster? We'll find out in Gainesville. Tori: Quick scene check: no partner splits announced this week. The German storyline from earlier — Ehlers with Wüst, Wickler with Pfretzschner, both pointed at LA twenty-eight — stands. Cooper: TruVolley check: the login situation has not changed. No saved credential, still can't get behind the wall, so we're on the public top fifty only and no weekly movers are visible. Top of the board: Anders Mol at fourteen point four one, Christian Sørum at fourteen point three one, Oleg Stoyanovskiy at fourteen point two nine, Ilya Leshukov at fourteen point two five, Elmer Andersson at fourteen point one seven.

Tori: Segment three. Player Spotlight of the Week, presented by Meta Muse. And this week's pick is Jake MacNeil of the United States. Cooper: Tell 'em why, Tori. Tori: Because the man's week was a movie. Last Sunday, October eleventh, MacNeil won the South Beach AVP Next men's title with Markus Koeppke — Miami Beach, Florida, developmental money on the line. And he didn't go home and rest. He's double-entered at Grass Nationals next weekend: men's twos with Benji Andexler, and men's triples with In System Black alongside Andexler and Ryan Ierna. Title on Sunday, two draws the next weekend — that's a grinder's schedule. Cooper: And the form is real. Koeppke and MacNeil didn't just win South Beach, they beat a field that had our own Tyler Penberthy on the podium. You don't luck into that. Tori: Jake MacNeil, USA — your Sideout AI Player Spotlight of the Week, presented by Meta Muse. Cooper: All right, picks. And a disclosure first, because we're honest on this show: TruVolley ratings are still behind the login, and Grass Nationals seeds haven't been drawn yet. So these are form-and-entry-based, not ratings-based, and we're saying so out loud. Tori: Alanya, men — going with the one seeds, Özdemir and Kuru of Turkey. Clean in pools, home sand, and the two seed withdrew. Chaos watch: the German qualifiers Hikel and Pieper, who already own a five-seed scalp. Cooper: Alanya, women — Jiang and Zhou of China, the one seeds, two and oh in pools without dropping a set. Chaos watch: ahn-DREH-suh kah-vahl-KAHN-chee and tah-EES TROY-mahn of Brazil, the ten seeds who just roofed the twos. Tori: Grass Nationals, men's twos — Andexler and MacNeil. Form is form. Women's twos — Stefan and Stone, name recognition in a blind draw. Men's triples — In System Black: Andexler, Ierna, MacNeil. Women's triples — the Goofy Goobers: Smith, Sours, Van Gunst, with Smith coming off a title. Cooper: And settling last week's board: our Alanya picks were meh-hahn-JEES-kee and KAHL-chev of Bulgaria for the men and Jiang and Zhou for the women — those resolve Sunday when Alanya wraps, so we'll grade them next week. Santa Barbara: we nailed Basey and Hurst on the men's side, whiffed on Kinna and Loreen for the women — they fell in the round of sixteen. And our chaos watch, Jin and Lechien — couldn't find them on this week's boards, so that one's unverified. It happens. Tori: That's the show for this week. A quiet domestic week, a loud World Tour, and everything pointing at Gainesville. If you're within driving distance of the High Springs Sports Complex next weekend, go watch — twenty-one thousand dollars, the last big-money domestic weekend of the fall. Cooper: Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, share the show with your beach crew, and we'll see you next Friday with Alanya finals, Grass Nationals results, and — fingers crossed — a TruVolley login. Tori, take us home. Tori: For Cooper, I'm Tori. This is Sideout AI, presented by Meta Muse. Side out, y'all.