Four women and eight men representing five member institutions across The Big West are in the midst of training with the 2026 Beach Collegiate National Team, hitting the sand June 8-17 in Hermosa Beach, Calif., alongside USA Volleyball’s Beach National Team Program athletes and coaches.
On the women’s side, the 2026 Big West Beach Volleyball Pairs Team of the Year, Ella Connor and Erin Inskeep, represent conference champion Cal Poly on the list. The twosome tallied a Big West best 31-5 record at the top flight this season, while Connor also broke the Mustangs’ career wins record (102).
Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah of Long Beach State also represent the league. At the top court, the Beach pairing posted a 24-10 record en route to earning the pair's fourth straight All-Big West first team selection.
Both women’s pairs from Cal Poly and Long Beach State earned AVCA All-America first team honors.
For the men, seven of the 13-player roster hail from Big West institutions with Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Hawai’i indoor men’s volleyball players all making the squad.
George Bruening, an All-Big West first team selection and AVCA honorable mention All-American in 2026 for UC Santa Barbara, just completed a second season for the Gauchos as an outside hitter. The product of Newport Beach, Calif., led the team and was 16th nationally with 3.68 kills and 4.28 points per set on the year. Bruening has also been a member of the 2023 Men’s U21 and 2025 Men’s U23 National Teams on the indoor court, winning silvers in the Pan American Cup on both occasions.
A pair of Long Beach State student-athletes dot the list in upperclassmen Ben Braun and Ryan Peluso. For Peluso, a native of Orlando, Fla., and opposite hitter/setter for the Beach, this is a second consecutive selection to the BCNT. This season, Braun helped The Big West champions and the nation’s second-best blocking team hold down the front line with 1.071 blocks per set, 15th in national collegiate volleyball.
Two players on the national runner-up UC Irvine team also join the fray in AVCA Second Team All-American , Trevor Clark and Nicolas Restrepo. Clark, an outside/opposite hitter from Lake Elsinore, Calif., led The Big West and finished the season second in the country in hitting percentage with a .507 clip. Restrepo hails from Camarillo, Calif., and plays middle blocker for the Anteaters.
Two members of the 2026 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship victors, Finn Kearney and Justin Todd of Hawai’i, round out The Big West’s representation on the team. Todd, an honorable mention All-American in 2026, averaged 1.082 blocks per set for the Rainbow Warriors. The native of Houston, Texas, has also been a member of the 2024 and 2025 Men’s U21 National Team. Kearney, an outside/opposite hitter from Phoenix, Ariz., who just completed a second season on the court for UH, has spent time on various Team USA squads starting in 2021.
Designed to bridge the gap between collegiate competition and the international beach volleyball pathway, the BCNT provides athletes with elite-level coaching, competition, and performance education as they pursue opportunities to represent the United States on the world stage.
The BCNT serves as a key developmental opportunity for collegiate athletes pursuing future international and professional beach volleyball opportunities. The training block will culminate with athletes competing in the Beach Senior National Team NORCECA Playoff on June 16-17 in Hermosa Beach. Winners of the playoff will automatically earn the opportunity to represent the United States at a future NORCECA international competition.
Participants in the 2026 program will be considered for selection to the 2026 World University Championship, scheduled for Sept. 17-22 in Figueira da Foz, Portugal.