Alexis Durish, Audrey Koenig stay alive in Beach Pro Tour Nuvali

Team USA’s Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig in action during the World Volleyball Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge. –HANDOUT PHOTO

SANTA ROSA, Laguna–Team USA’s Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig led the teams that advanced to the Round of 16 in the women’s division of the World Beach Pro Tour Nuvali Challenge after a dominant win over Ukraine on Friday night at Nuvali Sands Courts here.

Durish and Koenig, who have won three of their four appearances in the Beach Pro Tour, scored a 21-17, 21-19 victory over Inna Makhno and Iryna Makhno to secure their spot in the next round of the tournament organized by the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF).

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Holding an 18-13 lead in the second set, the Americans refused to blink under pressure as Inna Makhno answered with a clever push and Durish committed an uncharacteristic attack error that cut the gap to just three.

The momentum briefly shifted as the Makhno sisters kept coming, trading heavy hits with the Americans in a tense back-and-forth rally. But when it mattered most, Durish steadied herself and unleashed the decisive game-winning attack to shut the door and complete the victory.

“Today we just really focused on our passes and yesterday wasn’t our best. We’re just really trying to learn from that incident and we executed pretty well,” said Durish, as they suffered a 17-21, 19-21 defeat against Yeva Serdiuk and Daria Romaniuk — only their second in their Beach Pro Tour career — to finish Pool D at the second spot with a 1-1 record last Thursday.

“We just try to get one game at a time and not worry about the past. Every team here is tough and we’re just blessed to be able to compete with them,” Durish added.

The American duo, which won three gold medals in the 2025 Geneva Futures, 2026 Bhubaneswar Challenge, and 2026 Xiamen Challenge, and finished with a bronze in the 2025 Montpellier Futures, are now looking to extend that impressive run as they set their sights on the Nuvali Challenge–aiming to add another title to their already decorated Beach Pro Tour campaign.

Durish and Koenig, who now hold an impressive 25–2 record on the Beach Pro Tour, will once again square off against Ukrainian for the third consecutive time, when they take on Valentyna Davidova and Anhelina Khmil, who topped Pool H, in the Round of 16 at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Molly McBain and Ruby Sorra of Canada; Heleene Hollas and Liisa Remmelg of Estonia; Madelyne Anderson and Alaina Chacon of Team USA, all secured their respective victories to punch their tickets to the Round of 16.

Completing the qualified squads in the Round of 16, where they will face the top-ranked squads from the modified pool play, are Lilla Villám and Stefánia Kun of Hungary; Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard of France; Tetiana Lazarenko and Sofiia Kurnikova of Ukraine; and Nigella Negenman and Floor Hogenhout of the Netherlands.