In a battle of the unbeaten, the girls from Mira Costa defeated Valencia Saturday at the Annenberg Community Center in Santa Monica to stand atop the Southern Pacific Girls’ Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League (IBVL) after the third of four rounds in the regular season.
Mira Costa’s outcome mirrored the second round when Mustangs Lan Nguyen and Katie Warshaw fell Marymount’s Christine Irvine and Olivia Rodberg 21-14, 20-22, 15-9 in a match of No. 1 teams.
Once again, the second and third teams preserved the victory for the Mira Costa after Nguyen and Warshaw were defeated by Valencia’s number one team of Delaney Knudsen and Sierra Sanchez 21-5, 21-19.
In the No. 2 match, Mira Costa’s Keala Rusher and Skylar Caputo knocked off Lindsey Knudsen and Kaitlyn Uythoven, 21-12, 24-22. In the match between No. 3 teams, Lindsay Chalmers and Katrina Kernochan defeated Melissa Kraidman and Terezie Cernavek 21-11, 21-9 to give the Mustangs the victory.
Mira Costa (5-0) swept Carson 3-0 later in the day while Valencia (4-1) defeated El Segundo 3-0 to remain one match behind the Mustangs in the league standings.
The final round of league action takes place Saturday, April 28 at Dockweiler State Beach. Mira Costa opens with a 10 a.m. match against El Segundo (2-3) before facing Harvard-Westlake (4-1) at 12 p.m.
Harvard-Westlake moved into a second-place tie with Valencia after sweeping Marymount and Palos Verdes last Saturday.
Playoffs are scheduled for Saturday, May 5 at the Annenberg Community Beach House beginning at 9 a.m. The championship is slated for 12 p.m.
On Sunday, May 20, a Doubles Championships that is open to all schools will be held at Dockweiler Beach starting at 9:15 a.m.
Complete schedules are posted at www.aaa-volleyball.d4sportsclub.com.
