Dalhausser Wins the AVP Title at 46
Trevor Crabb and Phil Dalhausser beat Chaim Schalk and James Shaw 15-10, 15-11 in Chicago on Sunday. Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz took the women's title and every other one they entered this year.
Phil Dalhausser is 46 and was weeks out of the calf strain that ended his Manhattan Beach Open early. On Sunday at Oak Street Beach he and Trevor Crabb won the AVP League Championship for the second year running.
Their team, Palm Beach Passion, beat Chaim Schalk and James Shaw 15-10, 15-11, and every number below comes from the AVP itself, which is the only place the league has ever published a result from the weekend.
It did not publish one until Wednesday. The event page and the schedule page still print no champion, and the 2026 titles reached the public as a news item three days after the finals were played.
Shaw Led the League and Got Two Kills
James Shaw hit .542 across the regular season, the best mark any man in the League managed. In Saturday's semi-final he took eight kills on .462. In Sunday's final he managed two kills and a negative hitting percentage.
Trevor Crabb hit .750 on nine kills and no errors, against a regular-season mark of .468. Dalhausser blocked six balls in a match that lasted two sets, which is more than double his own League-leading rate.
Schalk took 13 kills on 24 attacks, which is a good night beside a partner having a bad one.
The Top Seed Played One Match
Andy Benesh and Taylor Crabb arrived in Chicago 7-1 and holding the Manhattan Beach Open title, which is the best record and the biggest trophy anybody brought to the men's draw.
The top two seeds in each draw had a semi-final bye, and Benesh and Crabb lost the first match they played. Schalk and Shaw won it 17-15, 15-13 on Saturday afternoon.
The AVP calls that the upset of the year. Four points separated the two pairs across the two sets, Benesh hit .529 with 12 kills, and Taylor Crabb, second in the League in hitting efficiency all summer, was held to .188.
The two Crabbs never met. They were drawn into opposite halves, so the only round in which the brothers could have played each other was the final Trevor won.
Brasher and Cruz Won Everything They Entered
Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz beat Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson 15-10, 15-12 in the women's final, the second seed over the first. That sits on top of a Manhattan Beach three-peat they took without losing a match.
Wilkerson led the women's League in blocks per set and was held to one block. She was made to swing 24 times instead, more than anybody else on the court, and Cruz dug 20 balls in a match that lasted two sets.
Brasher hit .565 on 15 kills against a regular season of .529 that already led the women's League, which is a player getting better in the biggest match of her year.
Palm Beach Hold Both of the League's Trophies
New York Nitro were 1-5 in July, made the playoffs in August and reached the final in September, and Schalk and Shaw beat the tournament favourites on the way.
Palm Beach took the AVP Cup by one match point and the League Championship in two straight sets. Those are the two competitions the League offers, and the same two men now hold both of them twice.
