RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe 2026 Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament was a spiking success and moved one step closer toward claiming stand-alone status.
For years the tournament has been in competition with AeQuilibrium Beach Volleyball Marathon in Bibione, Italy for biggest in the world. Though Italy has an advantage due to the international flavor, Seaside took another step toward supremacy this year.
With over 3,000 teams and 249 courts, parking was at a premium. Many visitors to the beach spent time circling the parking lot hoping to get lucky. The scenes of this past weekend are what visitors to the famous Los Angeles Beaches experience. Kids and young adults walking around in swimsuits, sandals, eating ice cream, playing arcade games and — to top everything off — a big show being performed at center court.
Saturday afternoon was the main event for a tournament that started on Wednesday Aug. 5, as the championship matches for the men’s and women’s Open division took place. It was here that professional and high level college volleyball players delighted a raucous crowd at Seaside beach.
What makes the Seaside event unique is crowd interaction. With the spectators situated so close to the action, many athletes play to the crowd through sky balls, high fives and hand gestures.
By the time the final two events on Saturday afternoon, many in the Seaside crowd had reached their limit. Most had one too many beers and some were showing serious sunburns, but this wasn’t enough to dampen the enthusiasm.
The Women’s Adult Open Doubles final featuring Macy Jerger/Carly Kan vs. Ella Connor/Jessica Smith was played in front of a packed center court. Jerger, who is the current coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School and indoor coach of 949 beach volleyball, was made for this moment. Jerger grew up in Florida, attended Florida State University and now lives in Carlsbad, California. Her partner, Kan, grew up on the silky sands of Hawaii and the pair put on a show for onlookers. Their experience was on display as the two defeated recent college graduate Smith and current Cal Poly senior Connor in straight sets 21-18 and 21-14. At the conclusion of their finale match, Jerger and Kan serenaded the crowd as they ran around center court, high-fivers onlookers.
Amazing crowd
This victory for the 31-year-old Kan was a long time in the making as the Hawaii native as been working on the North Coast Tournament for quite some time.
“This is my fourth time playing,” Kan said. “There’s just nothing like this crowd. It’s so amazing.”
“My dad and step mom live in Lincoln City, and without them hosting us all weekend none of this would have been possible,” Jerger said.
“This was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played in front of,” Jerger said. “The culture here is just awesome, just always positive vibes, everybody is having a fun time.”
The men’s final was also a straight-set affair, as a man from the Rocky Mountains stole the show.
Much like the tall presence of former Olympics Champion Phil Dalhausser was the standout of 2025, this year was highlighted by 22-year-old Gage Basey.
Basey, who grew up in Lyons, Colorado and currently resides in Tucson, Arizona, moved like a dancer in the wind, despite his 6-foot-5 frame. Basey dove and ran to return every difficult serve. Along with partner Thomas Hurst, he defeated towering 6-foot-7 Austrian Alexander Harthaller and Southern California native Diego Perez. Though Harthaller and Perez were not able to win the match, they still put on a show. Perez especially dazzled with his vertical jump and filthy serves. Though Perez was the shortest player on the court by five inches, he still had a number of thunderous kills and Harthaller used his size to block quite a few shots from Hurst and Basey for points.
While the first set was a pretty straightforward 21-15 victory for Hurst and Basey, the second set was a classic back-and-forth contest. The two teams were stuck together like glue for much of the set and it was only at the end when enough separation happened. In volleyball, teams have to win the sets by two points, so Hurst and Basey wrapped things up with a 21-19 victory.
“The noise and the energy the crowd brings can’t be found anywhere else,” Hurst said. “There’s always people around, but the way fans come out and cheer on every point is something special here.”
New activities a jumping success
In order to take Seaside over the top, tournament organizer Sadie Mercer added a couple kid- and family-friendly events.
The first was something called Glow Volley that was played on Thursday night. This consisted of the lights being turned off and the nets and ball being lit up with glow sticks. The feedback for this event was very positive and rumor has it the Chamber of Commerce is thinking about adding a second day to Glow Volley.
The final addition was a live concert. After the conclusion of the boys’ match at around 7 p.m., younger players continued to play on different courts until the sun went down. Sunset signaled the start of a concert by Jeremy Cornwell.
The Las Vegas native who recently moved to Clatsop County put on a show for the remaining crowd at Seaside Beach. Once again, the Chamber handed out glow sticks, so as the sun went the center court stage was highlighted by cellphone lights and glow sticks.
Astoria standouts past and present take the field
Two generations of Astoria volleyball standouts took the court this week.
Three-time all-state player for Astoria Danielle Moyer competed in her 13th Seaside Beach Volleyball Tournament. She was joined by the current young Fishermen standout Kyah Gohr. The incoming junior played in two different divisions, 18 U Open and Adult Women Division A. This was the second year that Gohr competed at Seaside. Gohr and her partner, Mahala Huntsmann, held their own in a difficult 18 U bracket as they finished fifth. The 18 U bracket was filled with future Division 1 beach volleyball players, so this served as great exper...
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