Geena Urango's adaptability factor
Pro beach: In the last two weeks of AVP play, veteran displays a remarkable capacity to thrive with new partners
The put-together partnership of poised, sage veteran Geena Urango and untested (at this level, anyway) Devon Newberry paid immediate dividends on the women’s side for the defending AVP League champion San Diego Smash.
Over the weekend, after a single practice session together, Urango and Newberry on Friday night threw a scare into Megan Kraft and Terese Cannon, representing the host LA Launch, taking a deuce opening set before eventually falling 15-8 in a tiebreaker.
One night later inside the Intuit Dome (the home of the NBA’s Clippers) in suburban Los Angeles, the new pair rolled to a 15-10, 15-11 victory over two-time USA Olympian Kelly Cheng and Naperville’s Molly Shaw of the Miami Mayhem, who have compiled noteworthy results at the Elite level on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour in 2025 but so far are winless in four AVP League outings.
The 35-year-old Urango, who has chosen not compete internationally, has experienced a potholes-filled road in 2025. The MVP of the inaugural AVP League Championship, Geena and partner Toni Rodriguez were according automatic entry into the non-traditional team-oriented series on the basis of having made the 2024 postseason. Urango-Rodriguez finished fifth in the single-elimination Huntington Beach Heritage Series event, the only top-level prize-money-paying traditional bracket tournament on the 2025 AVP schedule before the League started.
They were 1-1 in the opening League weekend in Delray Beach, Florida, beating Hailey Harward-Kylie Deberg of the Dallas Dream in three and being swept by the Brooklyn Blaze’s Lexy Denaburg-Julia Donlin. But hard-luck Toni (plagued by injuries throughout her career) blew out her hitting shoulder, requiring reconstructive surgery, during their first match of Week 2 in San Diego. That resulted in a forfeit to Taryn Brasher and Kristen Nuss of the Austin Aces. Urango played with 11th-hour replacement Abby Van Winkle on the second night in Viejas Arena, but they were beaten in three by Kraft and Cannon (15-11 in the tiebreaker).
Between the League dates, Geena opted to stay active by competing in an AVP $30,000 Contender Series tournament over the Fourth of July Weekend in Denver. As a League player, she was precluded from teaming with anyone inside the top 50 in the domestic tour’s points standings. So with the help of veteran pro (and Stanford assistant beach coach) Billy Allen, Urango lined up 5-foot-10 Avery Jackson, who had gone 24-8 during her freshman season for the collegiate powerhouse Cardinal program.
Seeded fifth on the strength of Urango’s points, Geena and Avery went undefeated in the second-tier tournament, winning their five matches preceding the final in straight sets. They saved the best for last, however, overcoming six (count 'em, six) match points to take the second set 22-20 against third-seeded Carly Kan and Devanne Sours, and prevailing in the tiebreaker 15-11. Jackson was an AVP champion in first pro event.
That set the stage for Urango’s transition to the 5-foot-10 Newberry, 24, only a year removed from a stellar collegiate career at UCLA, as her new blocker. Devon was named to the Smash’s roster as the permanent replacement for Rodriguez after having enjoyed success teaming for fellow UCLA product Jaden Whitmarsh during the League’s qualifying process.
In her debut against Kraft and Cannon, Newberry was served relentlessly (32 hitting attempts over three sets to only 15 for her seasoned mate), but Devon demonstrated a solid net presence with five blocks.
On Saturday night, everything clicked for the Smash duo against Cheng and Shaw. They pulled away to comfortable cushions in the late stages of both sets. Newberry hit .563 with 10 kills on 16 attacks with only one error, while Geena attacked a .600 efficiency (10-for-15 with one error) and made 10 digs.
“Geena is known on the beach for being a very versatile player. She can play with anyone,” Newberry said in the postmatch interview. “So I knew she was a perfect person of me to step in (this) role with.”
For her part, Urango said, “I’m not a blocker, but I’ll take (the compliment), thank you.”
The Smash seemingly are out of the picture to defend their team title in the League, standing 5-7 with one of their four series weekends remaining and the championship format changed to entail only the eight regular-season stops with no playoffs. In prime contention are the LA Launch (7-1) and Palm Beach Passion (9-3), both of whom were 3-1 during Week 5 in the Intuit Dome.
However, at 2-4, the Smash’s women remain in a position to finish among the top six pairs who advance to the revamped League Championship, to be held on Chicago’s Oak Street Beach during the Labor Day Weekend. The last two matches for Urango and Newberry come on Saturday and Sunday in New York’s Central Park against the Passion’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (5-1) and Corinne Quiggle and Megan J. Rice (0-4) of the New York Nitro.
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