MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz arrived at the Manhattan Beach Open with an opportunity to make history. By Sunday afternoon, they had left little doubt that they were going to do it.
Brasher and Cruz captured their third consecutive AVP Manhattan Beach Open championship Sunday, defeating Kelly Cheng and Megan Kraft 21-18, 21-16 in the women's final at the Manhattan Beach Pier to complete a dominant weekend at one of beach volleyball's most prestigious events.
The victory made Brasher and Cruz the first women's team to win three straight Manhattan Beach Open titles since beach volleyball legends Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won four consecutive championships from 2005 through 2008.
For Brasher and Cruz, who won the tournament in 2024 and 2025 and entered this year's event as the No. 1 seed, Sunday's championship further cemented their place among the sport's elite. The former LSU teammates represented the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics before completing an undefeated AVP League season in 2025 and later reaching the No. 1 world ranking.
They looked every bit like the team to beat throughout the weekend.
Brasher and Cruz swept all six of their opponents during the tournament, winning all 12 sets while taking each set by an average of 4.7 points. Their march through the bracket culminated Sunday with two more straight-set victories against some of the strongest competition in the field.
Edwin So - The Sporting Tribune
Taryn Brasher and Kristen Cruz hold up their trophies after winning the women's finals during the 2026 Manhattan Beach Open on Sunday, August 16, 2026 at Manhattan Beach Pier.
Brasher and Cruz began the day by defeating Maddie Anderson and Alaina Chacon 21-18, 21-15 in the semifinals, setting up a championship showdown with the second-seeded Cheng and Kraft. The matchup pitted the tournament's top two seeds against each other, with Cheng and Kraft attempting to win their first Manhattan Beach Open title together while Brasher and Cruz chased a place in tournament history. The AVP had billed the possibility of a three-peat as one of the defining storylines of the women's draw entering the weekend.
Brasher and Cruz quickly showed why they have been nearly unbeatable on the Manhattan Beach sand.
They jumped out to a 4-1 advantage in the opening set before Cheng and Kraft fought back and eventually tied the score at 15. Brasher and Cruz responded down the stretch, pulling away for a 21-18 victory before taking control of the second set and closing out the championship with a 21-16 win.
Cheng brought considerable championship experience into the final as a two-time Olympian, 2023 world champion and former AVP MVP, while Kraft was the 2025 AVP Best Server and MVP runner-up. The two partnered for the first time this season and entered Manhattan Beach as the No. 2 seed.
None of it was enough to slow down Brasher and Cruz.
Their third straight title adds another chapter to a partnership that began at LSU and has since developed into one of the most successful teams in American beach volleyball. Brasher and Cruz went 36-0 together during the 2021 collegiate season, represented Team USA in Paris three years later and followed their undefeated 2025 AVP League campaign with international victories at the João Pessoa and Saquarema Elite16 events in 2026.
Now they have accomplished something on the AVP's most iconic stretch of sand that had not been done in nearly two decades.
Winning the Manhattan Beach Open carries a distinction unlike virtually any other event in beach volleyball. Champions are permanently honored with bronze volleyball plaques along the Volleyball Walk of Fame at the Manhattan Beach Pier, ensuring their names remain part of the tournament's history.
Brasher and Cruz already had two championships to their names when they arrived this weekend.
After another flawless run through Manhattan Beach, they now have three straight — and a place alongside some of the greatest teams the sport has ever seen.