Who Won the 2026 AVP Season? Champions and Final Results

The 2026 AVP season belonged to Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb on the men's side — winners of four of the season's biggest titles, including Manhattan Beach and Laguna Beach — and Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz on the women's side, who three-peated at Manhattan Beach and added the AVP League Championship. Palm Beach Passion won the AVP Cup, the League's regular-season trophy.

The premier events: Benesh/Crabb and Brasher/Cruz dominate

Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb won four of the season's premier titles: the season opener at Huntington Beach (21-18, 23-21 over Chase Budinger and Miles Evans), the Manhattan Beach Open (21-14, 21-13 over Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst, without dropping a set), Hermosa Beach (straight sets over Miles Partain and Jacob LaBouliere in a same-day rematch, after dropping the winners final to them that morning), and the season finale at Laguna Beach (21-15, 21-19 over Trevor Crabb and Chase Budinger in the first all-Crabb final of the season).

The Laguna final was the season's signature match: Taylor Crabb put down 22 kills at .421 with 15 digs and 4 aces to beat his older brother Trevor. SANDCAST dubbed the run the "California sweep" — Huntington, Manhattan, Hermosa, Laguna, all in one summer.

On the women's side, Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz won their third straight Manhattan Beach Open, beating Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft 21-18, 21-16 and extending their MBO winning streak to 18 matches. Cheng and Kraft answered at Hermosa Beach, beating Savvy Cory and Devon Newberry — Cheng's third straight Hermosa title. The season's other premier women's titles went to Brazil's Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes at Huntington Beach (21-18, 21-17 over Devon Newberry and Savannah Simo) and to Maddie Anderson and Alaina Chacon at Laguna Beach (21-19, 21-15 over Victoria and Thamela, the world No. 3 — Anderson's first AVP title).

AVP League: Chicago crowns two champions

The AVP League season ended September 5–6 at Oak Street Beach in Chicago, with 15-point sets and single elimination. The women's final went to Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz, playing for the Austin Aces: they beat Palm Beach's Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson 15-10, 15-12, completing a summer that also included the Manhattan Beach three-peat. Brasher hit .565 with 15 kills; Cruz dug 20 balls.

The men's final went to Trevor Crabb and Phil Dalhausser of Palm Beach Passion, who beat New York Nitro's Chaim Schalk and James Shaw 15-10, 15-11 to defend their League crown. Dalhausser, 46 and weeks removed from a calf strain, posted 6 blocks; Crabb hit .750 with 9 kills and no errors. The semifinal had produced the weekend's shock: Schalk and Shaw knocked out top-seeded Benesh and Taylor Crabb 17-15, 15-13.

Palm Beach Passion also won the 2026 AVP Cup, the League's regular-season trophy, finishing with 35 match points — one ahead of Miami — after the Cup was decided on the final weekend at East Hampton.

Contender Series: the rest of the winners

The $20,000–$60,000 Contender events spread titles across the field:

• Austin, TX (Apr 16–18, $20K): Gage Basey / Thomas Hurst (men); Madison Shields / Kamila Tan (women)
• Pompano Beach, FL (May 22–24, $20K): Peter Connole / Djordje Klasnic (men); Kennedy Coakley (20) / Abby Van Winkle (women)
• Virginia Beach, VA (Jun 12–14, $20K): Cody Caldwell / Avery Drost (men); Megan Rice / Kendra VanZwieten (41) (women)
• Denver, CO (Jul 3–5, $60K): Theo Brunner (41) / Ryan Wilcox (men); Devanne Sours / Thais Treumann (17) (women)
• Waupaca, WI (Jul 8–10, $60K): Gage Basey / Thomas Hurst (men); Emma Donley (21) / Erin Inskeep (20) (women)
• Santa Barbara, CA (Oct 2–4, $60K): Gage Basey / Thomas Hurst (men); Ella Connor / Jessica Smith (women)

At the AVP Midwest Open in Edwardsville, IL (Sept 25–27, $20K), Katie Pyles and Lena Sokolowski took the women's title while Luke De Greeff and Tynan Gannett won the men's draw. Winners for the Aspen, CO (Sept 5–7) Contender could not be verified from available reporting.

Season takeaways

By bvbinfo's season tally, Gage Basey and Thomas Hurst were the winningest men's team of 2026 with four titles — Austin, Waupaca, and Santa Barbara confirmed, plus one more Contender win — while Benesh and Crabb's four premier-event victories made them the team of the summer's biggest stages.

Brasher and Cruz were the clear women's team of the year: a Manhattan Beach three-peat, an 18-match MBO winning streak, and the League championship. The season closed with two firsts — the first all-Crabb final, and the first AVP title for Florida State's Anderson and Chacon.