Thirty-two players from Manhattan Beach earned medals – including six gold – at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Beach Volleyball National Championships in Hermosa Beach. The two-weekend tournament concluded Sunday when the Boys U18 competition was held adjacent to the AVP NIVEA Hermosa Beach Open.
“The talent level is increasingly getting better each season,” said Gino Grajeda, AAU National Beach Volleyball Chairman. “We were pleased to be back in Hermosa Beach and working with the AVP again this season. The cooperation and development of both of our programs benefit from such partnerships.”
Grajeda and Denny Lennon, the Director of Beach Program Development for USA Volleyball since 2006, started beach volleyball programs for juniors in 1994.
“Gino and I are real excited about where it (beach volleyball) is now and where it is headed,” Lennon said. “I am so impressed with the talent at our (girls 14U) Best of the Beach event, it just amazes me. It was also real cool to see our medal winners recognized on stage as the stars of tomorrow and then the television broadcast did a feature on (AAU veterans) Summer Ross and Jane Croson qualifying in the AVP and playing Misty (May-Treanor) tough in the first round.”
In the boys U10 division of the AAU National Championships, Bobby Barkley (Manhattan Beach) and Sebastian Rodriguez (Hermosa Beach) won gold with a convincing 28-9 victory over Johnny Anselmo (Manhattan Beach) and Jadon Jones (Lakewood). The bronze-medal game was an all-Manhattan Beach affair with Dane Johnson/Luke Sussman defeating Will Campbell/Jack Walmer.
Boys from Manhattan Beach made a strong showing in the U12 division with Roy McFarland and Casey McGarry beating Rob Mullahey and Davis Boehle (Westchester). Niko Forbes and Noah Viklund placed fourth.
Representing Rosie’s R8ders, Tanner Smith (Hermosa Beach) and Louis Richard (Los Angeles) captured gold in Boys U14 competition defeating the Manhattan Beach team of Connor Inlow and Jack Payne. Another R8ders team, Vincent Pizzuti (Redondo Beach) and Blake Markland (Manhattan Beach), won bronze medals.
In the Boys U16 division, Bobby Romano (El Segundo) and Keith Waddell (Manhattan Beach) outlasted Christopher Orenic (Manhattan Beach) and Kevin Inlow (Manhattan Beach) 29-27 in the gold-medal game.
In Sunday’s Boys 18U competition, Daniel Jordan White, of Hermosa Beach, teamed with Ryan Baine (Ladera Ranch) to win the silver medal.
In girls competition, Ivy Stevens (Manhattan Beach) teamed with Harper Goldfarb (Santa Monica) to win gold by defeating Kelli Barry and Lea Unger, both of Manhattan Beach. Jamie Unger (Manhattan Beach) and Amber Wall (Manhattan Beach) earned fourth-place medals.
In the U12 division, Natalie Anselmo (Manhattan Beach) and Olivia Zelon (Santa Monica) defeated a team from Dripping Springs, Texas 28-26 to win the title. The Manhattan Beach team of Emma Smith/Katie Barkley won the bronze-medal match with a victory over Presley Forbes (Manhattan Beach) and Skylar Morgan (Hermosa Beach).
Hermosa Beach’s Suzanna Muno teamed with Sydney Bast of Upland for a bronze-medal finish in the girls U14 competition.
Redondo Union High School teammates Tiffany Morales (Redondo Beach) and Skylar Dykstra (Hermosa Beach) captured the gold in the girls U16 competition with a win over Makayla Taylor (Downey) and Audrey Castro (Long Beach). Third-place teams included Tori Jasuta (Manhattan Beach)/Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa) and Gracie Chavers (Manhattan Beach)/Olivia Bustamante (Redondo Beach).
A pair of Torrance girls captured the U18 division with a 28-17 victory over a team from the Peninsula. Amanda Yamate and Dessi Koleva defeated Kenedy McGrath (Palos Verdes Estates) and Allison Lee (Rancho Palos Verdes) for the gold.
Third-place teams were Carly Naramore (Manhattan Beach)/Sa Iosia (Long Beach) and Nicola Ribisi (Manhattan Beach)/Jace Pardon (Manhattan Beach).
Morales was selected as the AAU Beach Volleyball Female Player of the Year. She placed second with partner Alexa Strange (San Clemente) at the AAU Beast of the Beach tournament presented by Team Kauai Bikini and held adjacent to the AVP NIVEA Tour Hermosa Beach Open. The team qualified to compete in the Junior Olympic Games in Virginia Beach, VA July 30-Aug. 1.
“Morales and Strange are predicted to do well in the Junior Olympic Games,” Grajeda said. “They finished with a silver medal last year and expect stiff competition from the teams from Canada again this year.”
Morales, a junior libero at Redondo High, recently was named to the U.S. Youth Olympic Team and will compete for the indoor team in Singapore beginning August 14. ER
