This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is an absolute treat, featuring Alice Zeimann, the blocking half of the top pair in New Zealand. If you haven’t heard of Zeimann and her partner, Shaunna Polley, you will soon. They are currently the No. 31-ranked team in the world, with a win over Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth in last fall’s Torquay Elite16. An injury to Polley has limited their competition this season, but when they return, rest assured, they’ll...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Sarah Pavan, the most decorated beach volleyball player in Canada history, with a World Championship (2019), Commonwealth Games gold medal, Team of the Year (2019), three-time Blocker of the Year, and a pair of Olympic appearances to her name. This was such a fun conversation with Pavan as she nears the twilight of her career, discussing: The stark reality of sport, and how the greats just fade away...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, may be the most anticipated episode since we had Kent Steffes on last summer. Finally, in the studio this week, is Miles Partain, the young jedi who is returning the force to USA Volleyball. Miles is easily one of the most curious people we’ve ever met, and that curiosity has helped him develop into the most precocious and promising talent of his generation. Not that he’d tell you that. He’s as humble as can be,...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Hagen Smith, one of the most physically impressive players on the AVP Tour and, yes, the son of the great Sinjin Smith, who is perhaps the most important person in the history of beach volleyball (he only helped found the AVP and FIVB, so there is that…). We chatted a bit about Hagen’s well-known lineage, as well as: His physical recovery the last few years after a handful of surgeries That breakthrough...

This is the FIFTH episode of our Road to Paris series, where Travis Mewhirter breaks down the race to the 2024 Olympic Games. Just a quick one today, analyzing the moves made after the  @volleyballworld  Elite16 in Uberlandia, Brazil, including: - Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth with their second gold of the year! - Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers playing big - Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk taking a massive fifth - Welcome back, Joana Mader and Anouk Verge-Depre! And a whole lot...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is our semi-monthly fan question episode that is doubling as a celebratory episode. We popped some bubble to celebrate Tri and Chaim Schalk winning their first AVP as partners, Savvy and Toni Rodriguez matching a career-best fifth at AVP New Orleans, and Travis BECOMING A DAD to Austin Zaun Mewhirter. And yes, we also answered some fan questions, including: A deep, deep dive into the mental side of sport, beach...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is our LONGEST EPISODE IN HISTORY – by a long shot. Theo Brunner actually has a name for getting into a beach volleyball chat with Jake Dietrich: It’s called “Getting Jaked.” And we got Jaked in the best of ways, finally chatting with the man known on the YouTube chats last year as “The Beard Guy” playing with Hagen Smith. Well, now you’ll know him, as we covered a wide range of topics from: Jake Dietrich’s...

Episode Four of The Road to Paris, breaking down the Olympic beach volleyball race with Travis Mewhirter. After two wild weeks of  @volleyballworld  Challenge events in Itapema and Saquarema, Brazil -- as well as an  @avpbeach  in New Orleans -- we've had a ton of changes, including: - Miles Evans and Chase Budinger rebounding in a HUGE WAY - George Wanderley and Andre Loyola staying the Kings of Itapema - The Brazilian women have gone sicko mode - Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil are...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features the host himself, Bourne with his new partner, Chaim Schalk. The two have only played three tournaments thus far – this was recorded before the Volleyball World Itapema Challenge – and it has been an expectedly up and down journey. We chatted about their first two tournaments, in La Paz and Tepic, and a bunch else, such as: What it’s been like forming a new team between former rivals How Schalk’s and...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Zana Muno, our most popular guest in the show’s history and one of our favorite people in the world. Muno had quite the interesting 2022 season, playing – and succeeding with – Toni Rodriguez (bronze in Coolangatta), Allie Wheeler (silver in Aguascalientes), Brandie Wilkerson (two AVP semifinals), Sarah Pavan (fifth in the Phoenix Gold Series Championships), Lauren Fendrick (fifth in AVP Hermosa), and...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features our annual in-house visit with our brothers up north, Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing. The top team from Canada was in Hermosa Beach for a month-long (ish) training camp before hitting the road in La Paz, Tepic, Itapema, Saquarema, and potentially Uberlandia. Yeah, a lot of travel. We talked about that, as well as: What Dan Dearing’s first year back on the Beach Pro Tour was like The fun of building a new...

Welcome back, all of you Olympic beach volleyball fans! Road to Paris No. 3 is a FULL one, as: - David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden -- and now of Red Bull -- stunned Anders Mol and Christian Sorum in Tepic - The American women swept the golds in Mexico - The Austrians have reorganized - American men Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk and Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner debuted - Valentina Gottardi had her breakout moment - Yorick de Groot had his rebirth And so, so, so much more. Absolute blast...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Troy Field, one of the most popular players on the AVP Tour, as well known for his vertical leap as he is for his ability to connect with fans both in person and on social media. It has been a wild journey for Field, going from rookie to partnering with Reid Priddy to making AVP finals with Tim Bomgren to playing a full-time year internationally with Chase Budinger to, now, playing with Phil Dalhausser....

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, is our SEASON-PREVIEW MAILBAG! The AVP season begins THIS WEEKEND in Miami, while Volleyball World begins again in La Paz, Mexico, for a Challenge. As always, we begin our year with a fan question episode, answering: - Who will win AVP Miami? - Who are the players to watch on the AVP Tour this season? -  Is the Elite 16 and Challenge system popular amongst the players? - What are the players' thoughts on the new...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, one of the fastest-rising teams on the AVP and Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Just how fast did they rise? Less than a year ago, they had zero international points to their name. Now they’re No. 7 in the world and tops in the U.S. They were the 2022 AVP Team of the Year. And now they’re making a push for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. We chatted about their wild ride of a...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features an absolute legend of the sport: Holly McPeak. The fourth winningest player in beach volleyball history, McPeak is a three-time Olympian and a bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. She also discovered a then-unknown gem named Misty May-Treanor. Now, you can hear McPeak’s voice on the broadcast for indoor, Pac-12 beach volleyball and, soon, Volleyball World. We chatted about all of...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features one of our most requested duos: Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander. Fresh off a rejuvenating off-season, Crabb and Sander are looking to follow up on a phenomenal first year as partners, one in which they made five finals and won two events, including the Phoenix Gold Series Championships. We chatted about all manner of topics, including: Why Taylor Sander’s rookie season was historically good, despite what...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Silila Tucker, the most secret Hawaiian on the AVP Tour – so secret even Tri didn’t even know that Tucker spent a good chunk of his childhood summers on Oahu. We talked a ton about that, as well as: Tucker’s HUGE 2022 season, one that ended with a win at the Laguna Open and a third at the Huntington Beach Tour Series Tucker’s new partnership with Paul Lotman, and their plans to hit the international...

This is Episode No. 2 of The Road to Paris, a monthly Olympic Beach Volleyball breakdown hosted by Travis Mewhirter. The Doha Elite 16 marked the opening event of the Olympic qualifying process, and while it might prove to be relatively inconsequential in the long run, big moves were still made, namely by Italians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri, the European women, and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth. Let us know what you think! This is a new series, so we're open to feedback and...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Delaynie Maple, a junior at USC and one of the most talented, must-watch players in NCAA beach volleyball this upcoming 2023 season. When she was still in high school, Maple took a fifth at AVP Hermosa with Megan Kraft. At USC, she’s already competed on court one, going 36-1 as a sophomore alongside Julia Scoles. Could not recommend watching her enough. We chatted about all sorts of topics,...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features our regular guest host, Savvy Simo, who is currently in Doha, competing in her first OLYMPIC QUALIFYING event, and Lexy Denaburg, her former partner at UCLA who is now charged with leading a deeply talented Bruins team. Denaburg is, simply, awesome. A lovely, gracious, humble 21-year-old out of Florida who you should absolutely watch at some point in the near future. Already an All-American, she is one of...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is our FIRST MAILBAG OF THE YEAR! It was a full one, too, and Tri Bourne was firmly on the hot seat, answering all sorts of questions, including: What happened to him and Trevor Crabb? How did Trevor take the news? What aren’t Tri and Chaim Schalk playing the Doha Elite 16? What are Phil Dalhausser’s plans for the upcoming AVP season? And a whole, whole lot more. SHOOTS! *** NEW BOOK ALERT!!! Travis Mewhirter and...

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter is, incredibly, our first podcast IN HAWAII!! Tri Bourne took the mic on the road with him to sit down with Carly Kan, the newest AVP champ and the first woman from the state of Hawaii to win an AVP, as well as her coach, the founder and master of secret training himself, Danny Alvarez. Kan is one of many bright young female stars on the AVP, while Alvarez is one of the brightest minds in the game. Absolute gem of...

This episode of SANDCAST features Savvy Simo, our favorite female host, and Toni Rodriguez, her partner for this season and, at least, the next as they begin their push to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. It has been quite an off-season for Rodriguez, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at AVP New Orleans in 2022. While she rehabbed, Simo played with anyone who would, anywhere in the world. Now, they’re back together. We chatted about all sorts of fun stuff, including: AVP New...