Sarah Sponcil, Pac-12 Champ, National Champ, AVP finalist

Sarah Sponcil, Pac-12 Champ, National Champ, AVP finalist

It may seem difficult to imagine at first, what with a Pac-12 title, an NCAA Championship and an AVP final under her belt in the span of just a few weeks, but yes, Sarah Sponcil does struggle from time to time.

Take Spanish, for example.

“I have not taken it since I was in fifth grade,” she said on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “A lot of people take Spanish in high school, so it was elementary Spanish and I was like ‘Ok, we’re chillin’ with the colors and the weather and all that stuff and the lady is like ‘Ok so the next class we’re going to be speaking in full Spanish. And I was like ‘Wait, what? What did I sign up for? Is there a level below this?’ So that’s been kind of a struggle.”

But on the court? It may take some digging to find a soft spot in Sponcil’s game. Partnered with Lauren Fendrick for Austin, Sponcil won her first four career AVP main draw matches in straight sets, setting up a final against April Ross and Alix Klineman.

“I think I just had that mentality – people are going to be stronger, faster,” Sponcil said. “I think I just tried to put the pressure on, trying to stay aggressive. I think a lot of people go to shots if they get blocked, they kind of just do that. I felt like I was full force. I just want to swing, if I get blocked, I’ll just work around.”

She worked around Angela Bensend and Olaya Pazo, Caitlin Ledoux and Kendra VanZwieten, Janelle Allen and Kerri Schuh, Karissa Cook and Katie Spieler.

It was one thing to play alongside an Olympian and Stanford’s assistant coach. It was an entirely different feeling to play against Ross, the player Sponcil has looked up to since she began playing volleyball.

“I mean, you’re playing against April Ross,” Sponcil said. “I literally had pictures of her when I was like, 14 and 17. Just to be playing against her and seeing me stack up against her was really cool. It was a really great experience.”

She watched the film a few times, enough to know that she stacked up just fine. Ross and Klineman had only dropped a single set prior to the finals, yet there was Sponcil, pushing the two-time Olympic medalist to a 24-22 first set, and again to a 25-23 second set.

“We basically played a third game,” Sponcil said, laughing. “I felt like I was taking it point by point. I don’t know. I thought it was an amazing challenge. You look up to someone for so long and you don’t want to miss this opportunity. You want to show them like ‘Ok, I deserve to be here. It wasn’t a fluke that we were here.’

“Right after we lost, as long as we gave them a run for their money, that was ok with me. Just to be that close and within striking distance gives me hope and just makes you want to play that much more and get that much better so you have the opportunity to face off with them again.”

She will. There is no doubting that. She had to skip New York for her finals, though she plans on playing Seattle and the remainder of the AVP season, and she’s entertaining the possibility of sprinkling in some FIVB stops as well.

At the end of the day, it is this: Sarah Sponcil just wants to keep winning.

“I’m just trying to get to know the beach volleyball world,” she said. “Now it’s like ‘Ok this is a completely different world. Book your own flights, book your own practices with different people.’

“I’m just going to keep trying, keep getting into AVPs, and I’ll see what happens from there.”

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Tri Bourne: The Retirement Of The Man Who Was Bourne On The Beach

Tri Bourne: The Retirement Of The Man Who Was Bourne On The Beach

This episode of SANDCAST is a heartfelt one, one in which Tri Bourne and his wife, Gabby, the Pod Mama herself, chat about Bourne's retirement from the world of professional beach volleyball. It's a reflective episode, as Bourne and Gabby talk about: - Bourne's wild journey, filled with the highest of highs, and perpetual health issues that robbed him of a fully healthy season since 2016 - Why he is deciding to retire now, at still a relatively young age in a sport that allows for longevity - Why he isn't sure, and doesn't need to be sure, about what's next in his life - The emotional weight of the decision to retire when he still has plenty of game left in him And so, so much more SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

23 Juli 1h 22min

Evan Cory: Adapting, Adjusting, THRIVING In 2025

Evan Cory: Adapting, Adjusting, THRIVING In 2025

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter features Evan Cory, one of the best players in the United States who alas had his plans aligned, with a full-time partner in Bourne, sites on the AVP League and World Champs -- everything dialed. And then beach volleyball happened. Bourne got hurt. They missed the League. Now Cory is, per usual, scrambling -- and thriving amidst the chaos. Fun episode with one of our favorites. We chat about: - What is was like for Cory to miss the league with Tri Bourne - How he has adjusted, leaning on patience, patience, and more patience, and adaptability, after he thought he broke through - His new partner prospects he's looking at - The importance of the mental side of sports, and how he is teaching it to junior players with his new business And so much more. Gold mine of an episode here! SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

16 Juli 1h 16min

Kent Steffes: What Beach Volleyball (and sports) is Getting Wrong And How to Fix It

Kent Steffes: What Beach Volleyball (and sports) is Getting Wrong And How to Fix It

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Kent Steffes. Buckle up. Steffes is one of the greatest beach volleyball players of all time, an Olympic gold medalist in 1996 who would win nearly half of the events he played. He has since gone on to become a prolific writer, author, podcaster, and, now, documentarian. He has opinions on the sport, and sports in general, and we get into all of them, including: Why Steffes does not believe the AVP League will work What changes he sees the sport needing to make in order to work Why he writes and podcasts as much as he does, on the topics he does Whether beach volleyball will ever become as big as it was in the 1990s, when he was at his peak And so much more. Get your popcorn ready and strap in. This one is a fun ride. SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

9 Juli 1h 32min

Kylie DeBerg: The Wild Journey From Iowa to the Top of Professional Beach Volleyball

Kylie DeBerg: The Wild Journey From Iowa to the Top of Professional Beach Volleyball

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Kylie DeBerg, one of the top rising blockers for USA Volleyball who is coming off a gold medal at the Xiamen Challenge with Toni Rodriguez. DeBerg’s journey in the sport is a wild one, beginning in Hudson, a tiny town in Iowa with a population of 2,700, to…beach volleyball. How? They got into it and much more, including: DeBerg’s rise through the indoor world, and how she ended up a three-time All-American at Missouri How a season at LSU changed her look on volleyball, and forever changed the trajectory and path of her life The confidence issues that come with attempting to break through the top level in sport Why she’s focused on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, and why that’s still so crazy for her to say And much, much more. Fun to have Kylie DeBerg on the show for the first time! SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

2 Juli 51min

Taylor Crabb, Taylor Sander: The Ever-Changing Lives and Careers of a Volleyball Player

Taylor Crabb, Taylor Sander: The Ever-Changing Lives and Careers of a Volleyball Player

This episode of SANDCAST features Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander as they sit down with Tri Bourne, chatting Sander's return from indoor, Crabb's off-season getting into coaching NCAA Beach Volleyball, and them playing together again in 2025. They get into: How Taylor Sander’s return to indoor volleyball in Indonesia went, and why he feels three years younger after playing beach volleyball How Taylor Crabb got into NCAA Beach Volleyball coaching at St. Mary’s, and why he’s going back for a second year Why Taylor Crabb and Trevor Crabb are reuniting on the Beach Pro Tour Why their lack of training is really no hindrance at all, because they’re volleyball players SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

25 Juni 1h 2min

Rob Gray: Unlocking Athlete Potential Through Ecological Dynamics

Rob Gray: Unlocking Athlete Potential Through Ecological Dynamics

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Rob Gray, a skill acquisition specialist, professor at Arizona State, sport scientist with the Chicago Cubs, and, simply, the father of the modern coaching movement in sports. His books, podcast, and research have formed the foundation of thousands of coaches’ coaching philosophy, including Mewhirter’s. What a special episode! They chat about: What is ecological dynamics, and what makes it so effective for learning Why the old way of coaching (top-down, repetition-based) is giving way to the modern, ecological way espoused by Gray External vs. internal cues, and why the former is vastly more effective than the latter What the world has gotten wrong with the famous 10,000-hour rule And so, so, so much more. SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

18 Juni 49min

Stefan Boermans: The World Class Ambassador Beach Volleyball Most Needed

Stefan Boermans: The World Class Ambassador Beach Volleyball Most Needed

Welcome back to SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter where, today, Travis sits down with Stefan Boermans at a restaurant in Ostrava, Czech Republic at the Ostrava Elite. Boermans is currently one of the top blockers in the world, and one of the top teams alongside Yorick de Groot, a tour de force for a deepening Netherlands federation. On this episode, they chat about: How Stefan Boermans’ social media exploded, and why he views that as his tool to be an ambassador to grow the sport His rapid rise through the sport after a late start, and how he was shocked that the Dutch federation picked him to make a run at the Paris Olympics Why, even after a fifth, Stefan Boermans has no regrets whatsoever about his Olympic experience, preparation, and performance His thoughts on the new rules changes in beach volleyball that will allow doubles and coaches in the box And a whole lot more. So, so, so good! SHOOTS! *** WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

11 Juni 1h 6min

Nick Lucena, Brooke Niles, And The Building of An NCAA Coaching Legacy

Nick Lucena, Brooke Niles, And The Building of An NCAA Coaching Legacy

This episode of SANDCAST: Beach Volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter, features Nick Lucena and Brooke Niles and the entire FSU Beach Volleyball coaching staff as they reflect on another successful season for the 'Noles. They chat about: - How Brooke Niles and Nick Lucena have managed the husband-wife, coach-coach balance at Florida State - Both of their transitions from elite beach volleyball players to coaches at the NCAA level - How Brooke Niles has seen the landscape of coaching and college sports change - What Travis Mewhirter's first year was like at FSU And a whole lot more! SHOOTS! WE'VE GOT NEW MERCH! Check it out here!! Get 20 PERCENT off all Wilson products with our code, SANDCAST-20. https://www.wilson.com/en-us/volleyball Get 10 PERCENT OFF VBTV using our discount code, SANDCAST10 Want to get better at beach volleyball? Use our discount code, SANDCAST, and get 10 percent off all Better at Beach products!  We are FIRED UP to announce that we've signed on for another year with Athletic Greens! Get a FREE year's supply of Vitamin D by purchasing with that link.  If you want to receive our SANDCAST weekly newsletter, the Beach Volleyball Digest, which dishes all the biggest news in beach volleyball in one quick newsletter, head over to our website and subscribe! We'd love to have ya! https://www.sandcastvolleyball.com/

4 Juni 1h 11min

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