SOCIAL MEDIA: BeachVB on Twitter | BeachVB on Facebook | BeachVB on Instagram

LEXINGTON, Ky., -- The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced its fifth annual AVCA Top Flight award winners today and four Bruins made the list. UCLA's pair on court two, Abby Van Winkle and Peri Brennan, and the pair currently on three, but qualifying on court four, Haley Hallgren and Rileigh Powers, all garnered AVCA Top Flight awards. Both of the Bruin duos to earn Top Flight honors were the only undefeated pairs on their respective courts in the country to earn the award.

Van Winkle and Brennan, 28-3 overall, are a perfect 22-0 at the second spot in 2023. Their only losses on the year came when they were at the No. 1 position. The duo was also named Second Team All-America by the AVCA yesterday.

Hallgren and Powers have the best record on the UCLA team, 30-2 overall, and were a perfect 18-0 on court four. Now on court three, they have also gone 5-0 on court five, 6-2 on court three and 1-0 on court two.

The Top Flight awards program is designed to recognize excellence in collegiate beach volleyball from all over the country and across all flights. The nature of beach volleyball dictates that each player fills an important role on the team. Each pair must give their greatest effort to help the squad clinch the three wins necessary to defeat an opponent. It takes all 10 athletes performing at a high level to achieve greatness. With this in mind, the AVCA created this award to reward the hard work and consistent play of pairs at each flight. In order for a pair to be eligible for the award, two athletes must compete in at least 15 matches together and at a specific flight number. Should that pair win at least 75% of its matches—regardless of the overall result of the dual—those athletes achieve Top Flight status. 

NOTE: Pair records are before the NCAA Championship, so they only include matches before May 1. 

FLIGHT 2

Pair	School	Division	Record
Katie Grose and Reina Thomas	Ave Maria	NAIA	12-3
Abbey Hildenbrand and Ava Fountain	Carson-Newman	DII	23-4
Samaya Morin and Allanis Navas	Grand Canyon	DI	18-1
Veronica Tikhomirova and Isabelle Valldeperas	Huntingdon	DIII	19-6
Malia Gementera and Taylor Hagenah	Long Beach State	DI	16-1
Presley Murray and Madison Espy	North Florida	DI	18-4
Allison Bryant and Ana Paula Fallas Cruz	Palm Beach State	TYC	22-1
Kate Clermont and Savannah Standage	Pepperdine	DI	14-3
Carolina Ferraris and Anete Namike	Stetson	DI	22-6
Rileigh Kimball and Miranda Mueck	Stevenson	DIII	17-5
Colleen McGuire and Kylie Miller	UC Davis	DI	19-5
Abby Van Winkle and Peri Brennan	UCLA	DI	21-0
Ashley Johnson and Olivia Sletten	Ventura	TYC	17-2
Sydney Rogers and Devin Derecho	West Valley	TYC	14-3
Reagan Huff and Carly Merry	William Carey	NAIA	19-3

FLIGHT 4

Pair	School	Division	Record
Mckenna Hall and Julia Wheeler	Carson-Newman	DII	17-4
Raychel Ehlers and Madison Allred	Coastal Carolina	DI	21-5
Ella Larkin and Lara Boos	LSU	DI	23-6
Maria Ramos and Patricia Ubeda	Park	NAIA	15-4
Kelly Belardi and Ashley Vincent	Stanford	DI	23-6
Ashton Mares and Abby Jackson	Tulane	DI	20-5
Haley Hallgren and Rileigh Powers	UCLA	DI	18-0
Haeleigh Paulino and Jenna Vallee	UT Martin	DI	23-3