Kerri out, Muno still in, Partain debuts: 12 USA pairs in Thursday’s Itapema Challenge

Itapema, Brazil, is not an easy place to get to. The first flight will take you either to Dallas or Houston or maybe, if you’re going especially far out of the way, Chicago. That initial jaunt across the U.S. precedes the longest stint, to Sao Paulo, where passengers will be met with a layover ranging from two-and-a-half hours to 10. Then there is a quick flight to Navegantes, and a winding, 40-minute cab down to Itapema, a town that is to Brazil what, say, Myrtle Beach is to America: quiet, touristy, good eats on the boardwalk.

It is a fitting metaphor for what this Olympic journey is like to those traveling: Long, expensive, and, if all goes as planned, entirely worth it.

It explains why there are 12 American teams — six men, six women — at the Volleyball World Itapema Challenge, more than half of which will begin in Thursday’s qualifier. Some, like Zana Muno, are hungry enough for international points that she’s willing to go in spite of her partner, Kerri Walsh Jennings, pulling out last minute with an injury, so she subbed in Allie Wheeler on just a few days’ notice.

“So bummed to not be taking the court with Kerri these next two weeks but we are flexible,” Muno wrote on social media. “I am beyond grateful for Allie Wheeler for taking a risk on us and agreeing to play with me and make the trip to Brazil on such short notice!”

Indeed, on notice short or long, the qualifiers on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour are not for the faint of heart. Muno and Wheeler, at the time of this writing, are the 22 seed in the Itapema Challenge, the lowest of the Americans. Savvy Simo and Toni Rodriguez, fresh off a silver medal at the La Paz Challenge, are the 18, and Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn are the 3.

Four American men will begin in the qualifier, highlighted by the 2023 beach debut of Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, who played three Beach Pro Tour events in 2022 and won a gold medal in Dubai in October. Three spots below them are Chase Budinger and Miles Evans, playing in their first international event together after a promising debut in Miami, where they finished second to Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander.

The Taylors, as they have come to be known, are another seven spots down from Budinger and Evans. Six spots below them are Evan Cory and Logan Webber, who have hit the road hard this season, playing in their third Beach Pro Tour event of 2023.

Awaiting in the main draw for the USA is Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk, and Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner, while the women boast top-seeded Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint, third-seeded Sarah Sponcil and Terese Cannon, and fourteenth-seeded Hailey Harward and Kelley Kolinske.

After successful starts to the season for Kelly Cheng and Sarah Hughes, and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth, Challenges, at the moment, don’t make much sense to play as far as entry points go.

The entry point system is based on your best three of your previous four events. Cheng and Hughes are assured to begin in the main draws of Elite 16s — where the points are huge — and Nuss and Kloth are on the cusp of main draws, depending on which teams play and if a wild card is awarded. It is for that reason that you’ll only see their names in Elite 16s, such as Uberlandia later this month, until it becomes — if it does at all — necessary for them to play Challenges again.

All qualifier matches will be streamed on Volleyball TV, and you can follow the results on Volleyball World.

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