Brasilia main draw includes eight USA pairs
Pro beach: Schalk-Shaw and Budinger-Evans get out of 'Q' among the men; Harward-Phillips qualify on women's side
The field of 24 men’s pairs in the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour top-tier event in Brasilia will enjoy a far more substantial American presence than was the case during the Saquarema Elite last week.
Two duos representing the red-white-and-blue advanced out of the qualifier in Brazil’s capital city. Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, along with Quintana Roo bronze medalists Chaim Schalk and James Shaw took their matches on Wednesday in sweeps to advance to pool play.
Olympians Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, making their 2025 debut, were No. 9 among the 16 duos seeded directly into the main draw.
Schalk and Shaw bounced Brazilians Guto Carvalhaes and Vitor Felipe 17-19, while Evans and former NBA player Budinger were pushed to a 26-24, 21-19 result by Heitor Barbosa and Vinicius Rezende of Brazil.
Chase and Miles were the only American pair in the men’s field in Saquarema and they failed to advance out of their pool after losing both matches. Schalk and Shaw opted last week opted to try for a spot in the AVP League during the first no-prize-money qualifier on Huntington Beach, where they fell in the semifinals.
Chaim and James, seeded 17th, landed in Pool E, along with Partain and Benesh, and will meet them in the opening round. Budinger and Evans, the 19 seeds, are in Pool F and will face sixth-seeded Arthur da Silva and Adrielson Dos Santos in their first match.
On the women’s side, Hailey Harward and 6-foot-5 Molly Phillips advanced with a 19 and 11 victory over Canadians Devin Corah and Dana Roskic. It’s their second opportunity in an Elite field after a 13th-place finish last week. Fellow Americans Maddie Anderson and Brooke Bauer didn’t escape the “Q,” dropping a three-setter (15-10 in the tiebreaker) to the Dutch pair of Wies Bekhuis and Emi Van Driel.
Hailey and Molly (seeded 18th) are in Pool F and their first foe will be seventh-seeded Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, the Olympic silver medalists out of Canada. Mel and Brandie opened their 2025 campaign with a ninth in Saquarema. Sixth-seeded Americans Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw, coming off back-to-back medal-round appearances, also are in Pool F, first facing Brazilians qualifiers Verana Figueira and Kyce Martins, the 19 seeds.
In the 24-team Elite competitions, the winners of first-round pool-play matches earn a bye into the knockout rounds.
The women’s draw has five American pairs. Second-seeded Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss are in Pool B, as are Toni Rodriguez and Kylie Deberg, seeded 14th. Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon, seeded third, landed in Pool C, along with reigning Olympic gold medalists Duda and Ana Patricia of Brazil, the 10th seed.
NCAA men: Van Buren honored
Loyola redshirt senior Parker Van Buren was named the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association’s Player of the Year for a second consecutive season. The 6-foot-9 opposite helped the sixth-ranked Ramblers (22-3) tie for the league’s regular-season championship.
Nickie Sanlin of co-champion McKendree (19-7), ranked 12th nationally, was honored as the MIVA Coach of the Year. Ohio State freshman outside hitter Stanislaw Chacinski, a Polish national, was selected as Newcomer of the Year.
Three other Loyola players were picked first-team All-MIVA — middle hitter Deem Meyer, setter Ryan McElligott and OH Daniel Fabikovic. Others on the first team include Oguzhan Oguz of Lewis and McKendree’s Yadiel Diaz and Nate Flayter.
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