On May 23rd, 38 teams competed in the women’s open division of the AVP Palm Beach Contender tournament in Pompano, FL. Of the 38 teams that entered, 24 teams made into into the main draw and 18 out of those 24 made it into single elimination tournament play. USC partners Ashley Pater and Kennedy Coakley took down former FSU players Madelyn Anderson and Brooke Bauer in straight sets (21-19, 23-21) in the gold medal match to claim first overall in the tournament.
Other than Pater and Anderson, there were a number of players that made the main draw that are returning next year to play for top NCAA teams.
FSU’s McKenzie Hultquist and Kyleene Filimaua played together and although they made it out of the qualification round they fell just short of bracket play placing T34th. The Seminoles’ Jordan Boulware, who is also returning to play in college for FSU, played with Angeline Bergner and also made it through the qualification round but fell short of bracket play placing T34th. Bergner played her last college season this past season with FSU.
Long Beach State’s (LBSU) 1’s pair this past season also competed in the tournament and plan to return to play another year of college beach volleyball in 2026. Malia Gementara and Taylor Hagenah made it to bracket play and lost in a tight three set match in the first round to Alaina Chacon and Morgan Chacon with set scores of 21-17, 18-21 and 13-15. With this lost the LBSU pair finished T9th.
Cal Poly’s Izzy Martinez played with former Cal Poly Beach volleyball player Mariah Whalen and made it into the main draw but could not make it to tournament play as they got last in their pool and finished T38th. Martinez was a junior this past season and will be going into her senior season as a Mustang in 2026.
