Beach Volleyball Preview
U.S. beach volleyball teams have won at least one medal at every Olympic Games since the sport debuted in 1996. Team USA is looking to continue that streak at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — now taking place in 2021 — with a team that includes both young newcomers and multiple Olympic medalists.
U.S. beach volleyball teams qualified for the Tokyo Games by finishing in the top-15 of the Olympic rankings, with a maximum of two teams per country per gender. They earned Olympic ranking points at FIVB World Tour events between Sept. 1, 2018, and June 15, 2021.
All four teams — two men’s teams and two women’s teams — rank in the world top 10. But the only one that competed at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 is that of three-time Olympian Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena. The team placed fifth in Rio, and they are looking to reach the podium this time. They ranked eighth in the world as of the close of the qualification window.
Shortly after the Rio Games, the bronze-medal team of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross split to search for new partners. For Ross, the search ended at the end of 2017 when she had a tryout with indoor player Alix Klineman, a standout at Stanford University. The pair has improved quickly and placed second at the most recent world championships in 2019. They are the top-ranked U.S. team at No. 2 in the world.
Younger women’s teams are benefitting from the NCAA’s adoption of beach volleyball, reflected in the team of Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil. Claes won back-to-back national championships at USC while Sponcil played at Loyola Marymount and UCLA. The duo ranks sixth in the world.
Taylor Crabb is also a newcomer to the Olympic team but plays with three-time Olympian Jake Gibb. The world’s No. 6 team has played together since 2017 and found success on the 2019-20 World Tour, winning a four-star event in Mexico.
Updated on June 21, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.