Space Coast Sports Hall of Famer Lexy Denaburg to Compete in World University Championship in Brazil
By Space Coast Daily // June 26, 2022
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TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Two Beach National Team Development Program trials wrapped up at Hermosa Beach, California, Thursday, and six pairs of 12 athletes earned the right to represent USA Volleyball at international tournaments later this year.
Four teams will compete at the FISU World University Championship in Maceio, Brazil, September 6-10 after their performances at the Beach World University Championship trials.
Second seed Maddie Anderson/Lexy Denaburg and top seed Hailey Harward/Julia Scoles made the trials’ championship match. Anderson/Denaburg won in three sets (28-26, 9-21. 18-16), but both the gold and silver medalists will compete in Brazil as the U.S. has two entries in the tournament.
In the men’s bracket, Charlie Siragusa/Wyatt Harrison and Sebastian Rodriguez/Jack Walmer will compete at the Beach World University Championship after reaching the trials’ championship match. Siragusa/Harrison came from behind to win the finale, 2-1 (12-21, 21-12, 15-10).
Anderson/Denaburg won last year’s Beach U21 National Team trials, but only Anderson competed at the FIVB Beach U21 World Championships as Denaburg was injured. The seven other members of the WUC team will be making their international debuts.
Anderson, Denaburg, Harward, Scoles and Siragusa were all named to the 2022 Beach Collegiate National Team.
Additionally, two teams won the U19 FIVB Beach World Championship Trials and will don the red, white and blue at the U19 Beach World Championship in Dikili, Turkey, September 14-18.
Top-seeded pair Ashley Pater/Myriah Massey advanced through the Girls bracket, beating Sophie Kubiak/Bailey Showalter, 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) in the gold medal match. Hailing from Florida and Ohio, respectively, this was Pater and Massey’s first tournament playing together.
In the Boys bracket, Ayden Keeter/Tread Rosenthal downed Thomas Hurst/Caleb Blanchette, 2-1 (19-21, 22-20, 15-7) in a showdown between the bracket’s top seeds for the worlds berth.
Keeter, Hurst and Blanchette all play at C2 Attack Volleyball Club in Hendersonville, Tennessee. (Southern Region), and Rosenthal represents MB Surf in Manhattan Beach, California.
The U.S. currently only has one spot per gender in the U19 Beach World Championship. Should a second berth be granted, the silver medalists – Kubiak/Showalter and Hurst/Blanchette – will receive them.
Keeter is the only U19 team member with international experience. Like Anderson, he competed at the U21 Beach World Championships last year. Hurst played at the 2021 U19 Beach World Championships and will provide additional experience pending a second berth.
Related Story:WATCH: Lexy Denaburg’s Unmatched Dominance Earns Her Early Induction into Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame
WATCH: Lexy Denaburg, who led the Merritt Island Mustangs to a state championship in both indoor and beach volleyball, and earned All-American honors in both, is the most dominant prep force in her sport in Brevard County history.
Mom Connie, the director of the Cape Coast Volleyball Club, was inducted in 2018 into the Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame for her dedication to the sport.
This year, it’s daughter Lexy’s turn.
The Merritt Island resident has been gathering plenty of attention during her freshman year at UCLA.
UCLA Volleyball’s “First Floridians” Denaburg and Rileigh Powers, Denaburg’s teammate from Oviedo, helped the team snag its second consecutive NCAA beach volleyball championship.
In volleyballmag.com, UCLA coach Stein Metzger noted that Denaburg, Powers and fellow freshman Devon Newberry were “blue chip, All-American.”
Team Denaburg/Powers is certainly a mighty force for winning. When they played 14 matches during the three-day Under 18 AAU National Junior Beach Volleyball Championship, they won all 14.
Related Story:Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame: Connie Denaburg Among Foremost Brevard Volleyball Coaches, Mentors
A member of the 2018 Merritt Island High School state championship beach volleyball team, Lexy was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s High School Beach First Team All-American in 2019 and an Under Armour indoor volleyball All-American in 2018.
Denaburg was also a four-year letter winner for both indoor volleyball and soccer at Merritt Island High School, where she additionally earned two beach volleyball letters.
Lexy was also named first-team All-State in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and earned All-Conference and All-District in volleyball every year from 2015 to 2018.
She attends UCLA on a beach volleyball scholarship.
Related Story:Palm Bay’s Caylor Williams Was Four-Time U.S. World Team Member, Armed Services Champion
She’s great at volleyball and not bad at soccer, either, being a two-time state champion in soccer 2017 and 2018 and a finalist for the Class 4A Soccer Player of the Year in 2018. In fact, Lexy lists her soccer state championship win as the greatest thrill in her sports career.
Her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed as Space Coast Daily named Lexy the Volleyball Player of the Year for 2018 and the Female Athlete of the Year in 2019.
Lexy and her mom aren’t the only sports stars in the family.
Her father, Dan, excelled in football in college. Older sister Karly stars in soccer at North Greenville University. Younger brother Brady is making his athletic mark with the Mustangs and older brother Mason was a first-round draft pick for the Washington Nationals in the 2018 MLB Draft.
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