Manhattan Beach’s Olivia Bakos is not one to rest on her laurels. The up-and-coming beach volleyball player is constantly looking ahead while attempting to improve with each tournament, even if it means playing against girls two years older.
Bakos’ partnership with Peri Brennan, of Laguna Beach, is paying dividends. After the duo won the 15U division at the USAV High Performance National Championships the previous week, they returned to Hermosa Beach last Wednesday to compete in the AAU West Coast Junior Olympics – one of the largest youth beach volleyball tournaments in the country with approximately 320 teams.
On Thursday, the team had little difficulty winning the gold medal in the 70-team girls 14U division defeating Ava Guerra (Santa Monica) and Jessica Smith (Laguna Niguel) 21-10 in the championship game.
It was a proud day for twin sisters Lee Bakos and Lisa Gallien as their daughters each won medals. The Manhattan Beach tandem of Ava Gallien (Olivia Bakos’ cousin) and Leah Kelly won bronze medals finishing third in the field of 70 teams.
Yet Bakos and Brennan were not done. They moved up one division to compete in the 16U division and didn’t disappoint capturing bronze medals on Saturday.
“Winning the JO’s U14U Division gold medal at the Junior Olympics was one of my top goals this year,” Bakos exclaimed. “I’m really proud of how we played, Peri and I are really starting to work well together and it’s very exciting. As for the 16U division, our goal was to build on the momentum from the first two days, play hard and see where it would take us. Fortunately, we found success early on which definitely helped carry us to the semi-finals.”
Bakos feels playing at a higher level helps the team improve and gain valuable experience.
“Both divisions have great players and teams; however the 16U division has bigger, taller and more experienced players, which is expected. We just tried to stick to our game of ball control and luckily it seemed to work.”
Bakos is currently No. 4 in the USA Beach 14U national rankings.
Bakos and Brennan hope their success at Hermosa Beach continues this week as they have qualified to compete in the 14U division at the Best of the Beach tournament. Pool play took place Wednesday and playoffs and the finals will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday on the north side of the pier.
The team has also qualified for the CBVA Youth Cal Cup with their sights set on bringing home gold medals from the event that will take place Saturday, August 27 at the Manhattan Beach Pier.
Four other players were gold medalist at the AAU Junior Olympics.
In a field of 64 teams, Kyla Doig, of Hermosa Beach, and Jaden Whitmarsh (San Diego) captured gold medals in convincing fashion defeating Devon Newberry (Santa Monica) and Allison Walters (Soquel) 21-12 in the 16U finals.
In girls 12U competition, Kelly Belardi (Manhattan Beach) and Savannah Standage (Redondo Beach) cruised to a gold-medal victory defeating the Tustin tandem of Allycyn Bennett and Tatiana Rusich 21-16 in the championship match. The final game was the closest for Belardi and Standage who outscored opponents 84-38 in their four games in the Gold Bracket. Hope Sabater (Lomita) and Serena Ramirez (San Pedro) took home bronze medals.
In the only boys division of the tournament, Hermosa Beach’s Luke Turner and partner Miles Partain (Pacific Palisades) captured the 15U title with a 21-10 victory over Mark Marolda (Hermosa Beach) and Clarke Godbold (San Pedro).
In a field of 69 teams in the girls 18U division, Redondo Beach’s Rio Frohoff and Sunny Villapando, of Manhattan Beach, won bronze medals falling just short of reaching the championship game. Sammy Slater (Ventura) and Haley Hallgren (Southlake, Tex.) defeated a team from Florida for the gold medal.
Results are available at aaubeach.org.
