Palm Beach Passion and Miami Mayhem Dominate AVP League Standings Ahead of Chicago Championship

The regular season of the 2026 AVP League has officially concluded, leaving two Florida-based franchises towering over the rest of the professional beach volleyball landscape. Palm Beach Passion captured the AVP Cup—the trophy awarded to the city team with the highest combined men's and women's win percentage—by finishing with a dominant 13-3 record and 35 match points. They narrowly edged out their in-state rivals, the Miami Mayhem, who finished second at 12-4 with 34 match points, setting up a highly anticipated postseason clash.[1][2][3]

The dramatic race for the regular-season title came down to the wire, decided by a single match point during the East Hampton event in late July. Miami entered the weekend needing a flawless 4-0 sweep across their men's and women's matches to catch Palm Beach on tiebreakers. While Miami's men's pair of Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh took care of business with a straight-sets victory, the women's side delivered the season's biggest upset.[2]

Miami's elite women's pair of Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft suffered a shocking straight-sets defeat to a substitute Brooklyn Blaze duo, Lexy Denaburg and Devon Newberry. That unexpected loss mathematically sealed the AVP Cup for Palm Beach, capping a season where their roster proved virtually unstoppable and proving that the league's depth can punish even the heaviest favorites on any given Sunday.[2]

The sheer dominance of the two Florida franchises is reflected in the individual pair leaderboards. Palm Beach's men's pair, featuring veterans Trevor Crabb and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser, finished the regular season with a stellar 7-1 record. Their women's pair, Canadian Olympic silver medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson, were equally formidable, posting a 6-2 mark to lead the women's standings.[1][3]

Miami's roster matched that firepower at almost every turn, creating a two-team arms race at the top of the league. Taylor Crabb and Andy Benesh also went 7-1 on the men's side, while Cheng and Kraft finished 5-3. The massive gap between the Florida teams and the rest of the league is evident in the final city leaderboard; the Austin Aces finished a distant third at an even 8-8, while the San Diego Smash and Dallas Dream tied for fourth at 7-9.[1][4]

Now, the focus shifts entirely to the postseason. The AVP League Championships will take place over Labor Day weekend, September 5-6, transforming Chicago's iconic Oak Street Beach into the ultimate battleground for the 2026 crown. The high-energy, lakefront venue will host the league's top pairs as they transition from the marathon of the regular season to the sudden-death pressure of playoff beach volleyball.[5][6]

The final standings have directly shaped the playoff bracket, giving the frontrunners a massive structural advantage. As the top two seeds, Palm Beach and Miami have earned automatic byes directly into the semifinals. This forces mid-table teams like Austin, San Diego, and Dallas to battle through the grueling quarterfinal rounds, expending crucial energy before they can even earn a shot at the rested Florida powerhouses.[1][5]

For the chasing pack, the single-elimination format of the Chicago championship offers a clean slate. While Palm Beach and Miami dominated the summer, the playoffs require only two consecutive victories to claim the ultimate prize. As the sport's biggest stars converge on Lake Michigan, the inaugural season of the city-based franchise model has already delivered exactly what it promised: clear hierarchies, intense rivalries, and a championship weekend where the stakes have never been higher.[1][3][5]