2017 World Series Of Beach Volleyball

What Exactly Is The World Series Of Beach Volleyball?

What Exactly Is The World Series Of Beach Volleyball?

The fifth-annual World Series of Beach Volleyball will take place July 12-16 in Long Beach, California. Here's what to expect.

Jul 11, 2017 by Megan Kaplon
What Exactly Is The World Series Of Beach Volleyball?
In 2013, the World Series of Beach Volleyball (WSOBV), which also included the FIVB Long Beach Grand Slam, marked the triumphant return of international beach volleyball to American soil after a 10-year absence.

That year, the World Series featured a traditional Grand Slam tournament, in addition to a "U.S. versus the world" style competition dubbed the World Series Cup, which featured two American teams per gender facing off against two of the world's top international teams. The event also began to establish its identity as a festival of beach volleyball, featuring 4s and 6s tournaments, music performances, and more.

The event has returned to Long Beach, CA, every summer since; however, the World Series Cup was not brought back after the first year. For 2017, the organizers will once again test out a new format at the Long Beach President's Cup on Thursday, July 13, to Sunday, July 16. Instead of a full 32-team main draw, eight U.S. pairs of each gender will compete against eight international pairs of each gender in the four-day tournament, which has a purse of $300,000.

The FIVB has sanctioned the competition; however, it is invitation only and the players will not earn any FIVB points.

Teams Competing In The 2017 Long Beach President's Cup


USA Men's Teams
Billy Allen/Stafford Slick
Theo Brunner/Casey Patterson
Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb
Trevor Crabb/Sean Rosenthal
Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena
John Hyden/Ryan Doherty
Casey Jennings/Bill Kolinske
Marty Lorenz/Mark Burik

International Men's Teams
Markus Böckerman, Lars Flüggen (Germany)
Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands)
Pablo Herrera/Adrián Gavira (Spain)
Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (Poland)
Alex Ranghieri/Marco Caminati (Italy)
Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho (Brazil)
Sam Schachter/Sam Pedlow (Canada)
Chaim Schalk/Ben Saxton (Canada)

USA Women's Teams
Lane Carico/Caitlin Ledoux
Emily Day/Brittany Hochevar
Kim DiCello/Emily Stockman
Lauren Fendrick/April Ross
Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen
Sara Hughes/Kelly Claes
Kerri Walsh Jennings/Nicole Branagh
Brooke Sweat/Summer Ross

International Women's Teams
Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré (Switzerland)
Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes (Brazil)
Lili Maestrini/Josi Alves (Brazil)
Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst (Germany)
Madelin Meppelink/Sophie Van Gestel (Netherlands)
Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Parades (Canada)
Julia Sude/Chantal Laboureur (Germany)
Brandie Wilkerson/Heather Bansley (Canada)

Competition begins on Thursday, July 13, with pool play. There will be four pools per gender, with two of the pools being comprised of American teams and two of all international teams. The top two teams per pools advance to a single-elimination bracket, with all U.S. teams on one half of the bracket and all international teams on the opposite side, to guarantee the best U.S. team facing off against the best international team in the final.

The playoffs for the women begin Friday, July 14, while the men's playoffs kick off on Saturday, July 15.

The 2017 event will also include the AAU Junior National Beach Volleyball Championships, the first National Volleyball League (NVL) tour stop of the year, and a concert by singer/songwriter/producer Kaskade.