Different Name, Same GOLDEN Result for Kristen Cruz, Taryn Brasher | Joao Pessoa Recap

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gambling problem called 1-800 gambler. What's up everyone? Welcome back to Sancast, our beach access

version of the pod. So beach access is kind of what we dubbed the name of these little recap episodes

that we do. We're going to try to do one after elites and AVPs this season. And every now and then

when something significant happens, like a week ago in Boobanishwar, where two of our players

at Florida State, Arduconeg, also known as AK and Alexis Durish, they won a gold medal and so I

felt pretty inspired, a little bit of home cooking, sure. I felt pretty inspired to talk about that

one. But after elites, we just had our first Inju episode of Brazil going to try to recap the events

once I hit the road. A couple of y'all have asked about when I'm going to start commentating again.

Right now it's January through May, just all in at Florida State. That is focus number one,

two, three, four, five. And then I'm going to hit the road starting in Ostrava and I will be at

every elite and then whatever the beach world series in Dubai, whatever that looks like

in November, I'll be there as well. So I'll be doing the last four elites, Hamburg pending five

and then sixth in Dubai. I'm going to do Sakurima remote, but I won't be there. That goes to

Kyle Friend and the beach volleyball mom of the most passionate woman in the world, Denise Austin.

Before I get into it, your boy's a little tired. So we had a great weekend in Palpano Beach with

Florida State, went for no, beat a very good FA U team, beat a very good USC team, beat a very

good TCU team. The hand of us are only lost and beat an excellent Tampa team, D2 Juggernaut.

We're driving back from Palpano, morale is high and we just hear this like,

and this tire got deleted. I've never seen a tire go down quite that hard. Everyone's fine,

a bus driver did a good job, but we had a couple hour delay, got in around 1.30 last night,

wake up, usually like 5.30 ish, Harper demands it so. So this is what we're doing. Hey,

there's, you can't be jet lagged with two young kids. So we just, we get up and we go. Your

boys well caffeinated, if not well tired, but we're good to go. And I just wanted to hang out,

chat with y'all. But storyline number one from Joao Pisoa of this beach access episode.

Obviously goes to Kristen Cruz and Terrin Brasher. New names, same results as Cruz and Brasher.

They are no longer the plucky LSU kids who could. They are certified grown women on this

beach pro tour at new married names and all. First tournament under the Cruz Brasher name.

They take gold medal. They're 12 gold medal and 37 events in their beach pro tour careers.

They do it. They go 7 to know beat four Brazilian teams at home in Joao Pisoa. Brazil is famous

for being excellent at home. And it's very hard to be Brazil at home. They have the whole crowd

singing, dancing, juiced up on caipurinius. And they took down four of them, including world

number two, former world number one, Tomla and Victoria, brutal quarter final draw there. And then

the match that everyone loves to see in the finals fourth time. They have played Anna Patricia

and Duda in a final. First time they've ever beat him in a final. Then they did it in sweep.

I believe it was 21 16 21 19. I believe we're the final scores. And it's not like Anna Patricia and

Duda did one of those matches where they laid over. They had bicycle kicks. They had head covers.

They had chest covers. Duda was bombing away hitting those perfect vision shots and a

Patricia run those little perfect tempo sets to the pin. It was just excellent beach volleyball

and Kristen and Taren are just that good still. And I love that about them that they can they take

that time off. We haven't seen them much since at all since World Champs. And here they go

following up. So they have gone gold, Newport, silver, world champs, gold,

Jual Paso. They have a pretty good track record in Brazil actually. They won that gold medal in

Brazilia. Brazilia a year ago. So first event of the year, first event as Cruz Brasher first win

for TKN who I believe are still going going by TKN. Storyline number two for me stays on the

American women. Kelly Chang making craft their debut tournament as partners when I wrote the

preview for the tournament. I called it the debut tournament of debut as this was the debut elite

of 2026. And it debuted new partners. It debuted old partners under new names. And Kelly Chang

making craft they showed out pretty dang well. They won every match except for one a semi final

lost 21 19 22 20 to AP and Duda. And then they won bronze relatively easily over a fantastic

up and coming Italian team and Claudio Scampoli and Giata Bianchi. Congratulations to them career

high fourth in an elite. But one medal one tournament one medal for Kelly Chang and Megan craft

they look as good as advertised. Block D solid teams are going to be trying to figure out who to

serve and how to get it there and how to earn points on them for a long time at the moment. No answers.

They played very very well and have a medal to show for it. Storyline number three another new team

one tournament one medal for Taylor Krab and Andy Benish. So this is um it's an exciting you know I was

excited about this partnership for a number of reasons. But the first and foremost is that if

you've been listening to this podcast for a long time, you'll know that I am a huge proponent

of defense. There's that cliche defense wins championships. But you look at the top

teams in the world of this last decade or so. It's the best defensive teams.

And there's more Christian Swarm. Best block D team we have seen at a very long time. Then

income Sweden. David Oman, Jonathan Helvig. They're so good at defense that they hardly bring

any service pressure at all. Sweden number two. Jacob Holting, Nilsen and Elmer Anderson,

excellent defensive team. Stefan Bormins, you worked a group one of the most consistent teams

on the podium. Not going to see that much this year. Stefan kind of taken a little sabbatical year

which we talked about a couple times this the year to do it. But they're one of the best block D

teams. Consistency on the Beach Pro Tour starts with your defense and that's what Tay and Andy did

and we saw it in their first match. They go down early to Martin Galates and Isaac Carrer

heard they're down 15, 18, 6, 1 run, 21, 19. Thank you very much. Down 6, 2 in the second set,

9, 1 run. Now we're up running away with it. Thank you very much. And if you thought that was just

a fluke because playing Australia, who I thought played pretty dang well. They're a very talented

team. Love watching them play. Well, think again because here we are. Here we are down 10,

4 in the third set to holding Nelson and Anderson. And Taylor just looks completely unbothered.

I had a buddy text me as good friends with Tay a long time Beach player. He said, is there anybody

in the world who looks as unbothered in the history of Beach volleyball down by 6 in the third set

as Taylor Crab? Because he just knows it's not apathy. It's confident. Because he knows that he

has the defensive wear with all an ability to bring him back. And what do they do? They explode

for an 11-1 run against the silver medalist at the World Championships. You don't see 11-1 runs

at this level. And you especially don't see it on the men's side unless you got a Vandro at the

line. Service pressure isn't a super strong suit. Andy picked up a couple aces, but they just

rely on Andy's blocking as well as I've seen him. Tay's got that big blocker that he hasn't had

in a while. His center is a talented blocker, but he's not big. Andy's huge. He's got long arms.

He's six foot nine. And he's got these oven mitts for hands. And he blocked really well. And they

just marched right on back. It was fun to watch. It was a very fun brand of volleyball for those two.

They go ahead and take a bronze medal. Their only loss came to David Oman and Jonathan Helbig

in the semifinals. I'm not putting an asterisk on this bronze medal for them. Yes, they want it.

Via forfeit. I don't know what happened to Arthur, but of Andrew and Arthur, they had a belter

of a semifinal against Remy Dobos. I don't know how to pronounce the name he's going by now.

Formerly, Remy Basero and Calvin Iay. Now, Remy Dobos. It's his mother's maiden name.

Remy's thing there is that he has represented it. He's been represented in the Olympics

with his dad's last name. Now he wants to do it with his mom's name, is sort of honoring both

of his parents, which is kind of cool. But now we, of course, just got to get used to a new name.

And I don't know how to pronounce it just yet. But after that very long,

as 1614 to 3rd after 2826 or maybe 3028 first set, Arthur couldn't go for that bronze medal

match. And so Tay and Andy win that bronze medal. First medal that Tay has won on the Beach

Pro Tour since Dubai of 2022 with Paul Lattman. So it's been four years since Tay's won a medal.

It's been two years since Andy's won a medal. His last one bronze in Ostrava with Miles

Partaine. And so big start for them. And again, Norway's gone. Netherlands not there. No

asterisk for me. You win a bronze medal. Take down Sweden's twos. Couple of other pretty dang

good results. Find showing from the boys in their debut. Storyline number four. Man,

this 2026 season, it is a tour, they force for USA volleyball. So we've had two major international

events. We got the Boobanish War Challenge and the Zyual Pasoah Elite. United Health Group is

simplifying health care by investing in tools to help patients know more and pay less. These tools

help patients find providers and compare costs and save hundreds of dollars annually. Learn more

at unitedhealthgroup.com slash commitment. Right now, new fan dual customers can get up to $300

back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. Place a tournament bet using the token. And if it doesn't

win, you'll get up to $300 back in bonus bets every single day for 10 days straight. You can

even mix things up with same game parlays for a shot at a bigger payout. Fan dual. It's time to dance.

21 plus in president's lexates. Bonus bets are nonwithdrawable and expire seven days after

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sportsbook.fandal.com gambling problem call 1-800 gambler. Can you give them fully filled? No.

All right. Just as transparent as you can get. But still, you go out and you got five teams on

the podium. Both gold medalists on the women's side. AK and Alexis Dirich touched on them before

they won gold and Boobanish War. Kristen and Taren, they won gold in Zyual Pasoah. You got two bronze

medalists and Kelly Chang and Sarah and not Sarah Hughes. Kelly Chang and Megan Kraft. Sarah Hughes

and Ali Battenhorst won bronze and Boobanish War. Then you got Taylor Krabb and Andy Benish

winning a much needed medal for the USA men. Not often we see them on the podium.

And then you also had Evan Corey, Derek Bradford. They took a fifth. You had

Carly Khan and Natalie Maizkowski. They took a fifth in Boobanish War. Devin Newberry,

Savvy Seymour or Savvy Corey pardon me. Just all these new names. I'm getting them.

All right. I'm getting them. They took a huge fifth that included qualifying. Sneak and pass

the talented Hungarian team and then stunning world champs, Tina Graudena and Anastasia Samoileva.

And then they followed up with it. No fluke. They beat Cindy Tillman and Savannah Mulla in the

ninth place rounds. And then they had what looked like a decent draw against Paraguay's Michelle

Valiente and Julie Corralas and Paraguay. I'm in touch on them in a minute. Paraguay showed out,

swept them. But Savvy and Devin, they come away with a big fifth. And then Piper Fertz and

Tegan Van Gunst. Man, that might be the most under the radar team out there. Who would have known

that they just took their third straight fifth in an elite? Piper just graduated from Cal Poly.

Super talented beach volleyball player. Really fun to watch. Was a really athletic,

undersized dynamic blocker at Poly on the ones with Aaron Ninske. Now she's defending for Tegan.

Really good hands, sweet setter, jumpsets, dynamic athlete, Tegan, super underrated, just very

understated as a person. Just quiet. Does her business. Good peel digger. But now you got

nine teams between the men and the women finishing fifth or above. Five of them on the podium.

Huge starts for the USA. A couple of other little notes I wanted to touch on.

Maritz Pristals, Phillip Waller. I've loved these guys games forever. I don't know what took

them so long to partner up in Austria. I kind of want to ask them about it. But they come out

first tournament as a team. They take a fifth. Their only loss was to David Oman, Jonathan Helvig.

That came in three. That was in pool play. And then they got knocked out in the quarters by

Avandro and Arthur. Excellent match at home in Brazil where Avandro thrives. But they swept

Jacob Holting Nelson and Elmer Anderson in the first round of the playoffs. This fifth,

I couldn't believe it. It's the first top five finish for Pristals since 2023. And I love his

game. He is freaking awesome and super talented. And I'm excited to see if him and Waller can develop

into the very high level elite team. I think they can be. And this first tournament is pretty good

evidence that yeah, they they have it in them. Last team going to touch on goes to Paraguay.

Michelle Valleante and Julie Corralis. They had a really nice fifth place finish. And really

it could have been in the semis as they dunked on Kelly Chang and Megan Kraft in the second set,

21. 10. And I was talking to a couple of people out there and they're like, man, they're just

playing free. They're loose. They're having fun. They're laughing. They know that they're not

supposed to beat Chang and Kraft. And they took them deep into that third set. A good third place,

good fifth place finish for them. And so good start team to watch for sure.

One last thing we're doing. So these BJAXAS episodes, they're now presented to you by our guys

at slunks. Shout out Chris Reams and the crew. And so for these BJAXAS episodes, we're going to

give out what's called a slunk of the weekend here. Check out this little slunks flag right here.

Just going to roll that across the screen. So slunks, creamy, he supported me throughout my playing

career. You know, I've got a ton of slunks back upstairs in my closet. My brother-in-law, he's

inherited a couple of hand-me-downs and he loves them. And creams is just, he's the best, he's the

best. And slunks, they make the best board shorts on the Beach volleyball market. I love them. It's

just become this cultish thing in a good way, in a good way. So when we do these BJAXAS episodes

from here on out, we're giving out a slunk of the week, which is just the player or person

of the week in Beach volleyball who had a huge finish, a significant milestone,

who was just the slunk of the week. And so our nominees this week, Brooke Niles, our commander,

our fearless commander at Florida State. When we won our second match on Wednesday at Stetson,

took down Texas A&M Corpus Christi Saffland Conference Queens. She became the first coach in

NCAA Beach volleyball history to surpass 300 wins. Huge. And then when we beat TCU in our last

match of Pompano, she logged her 100th top 10 wins. So a third of her career wins

have come against top 10 opponents. So that is one nominee for our slunk of the week. nominee

number two, Taylor Crab Debug, winning his first medal on the Beach Pro Tour since 2022 that bronze

with Paul Lopman. And our last nominee goes to Kristen Cruz and Taren Berasher. Those two names,

it sounds like something out of like the Mighty Ducks or like a Disney movie. It's just such a

it's a power name. But winning their first gold medal as a team, beating Anna Patricia and Duda

for the first time in a final. And your winner for this week's slunk of the week is Taylor Debug

Crab. Beach volleyball is just better when Tay is out there dialed in, all in focused,

going on the world tour, seeing what he can do at the best. And USA volleyball has needed him.

It's good to see him back fully invested in the international game. I know that his gales

at St. Mary's, missed him this week, but it's better. The Beach Pro Tour is better with Tay and Andy

on it. USA volleyball is better with him focused out in fully investing. And I want to give a

shout out and credit to April Ross and the culture that she's instilling out there. You talk about

just a true professional who's going to get the best out of everyone she's around. That's April

Ross. And so she's been, she's sort of at the top of this new USA hierarchy where she's coach

in the men and the women. Soon Matt Furbringer, who's one of the best podcasts we've ever done,

one of my favorite ones. We did that in 2022 maybe with him. He's been hired to be the men's

head coach for all the A1 teams. And I think that USA is heading in the right direction. And that's

why I wore this shirt. I always try to make the clothing will thematic for the episode. But

Taylor Krab, our initial slunk of the week. So you can get your slunk's board shorts. I got this

flag right here. They make great hats, make great shirts, great tank tops. But he's our inaugural

slunk of the week. Thank you guys for tuning in to Beach Access. Let's go Noles. I think the next

Beach Access will be after there's Telex College Challenge. We will not do them after most

challenges. There's the Nyerritt Challenge. And then I believe it's Sakurima. We'll do one after

Sakurima. And then there will be Brazilians. So elites and AVPs. That's what we'll be doing him.

All right. Thank you for tuning in. Thanks for listening. As always, love you guys. And

shoot. Go Noles. Right now, new fan duel customers can get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day

for 10 days. Place a tournament bet using the token. And if it doesn't win, you'll get up to $300

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