Mira Costa will be one of eight high schools competing Saturday when the inaugural Girls’ Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League kicks off at Dockweiler State Beach.
Operated by the Southern Pacific Volleyball Committee, a district and member organization of the Amateur Athletic Union that has operated the AAU National Beach Volleyball Tour since 1994, the league’s competition will be similar to the NCAA sand volleyball format, which is also beginning in the 2011-2012 spring season and includes local universities Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and USC.
The league will be played at Dockweiler State Beach and at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.
Running from March through May, the league features dual match competition consisting of three doubles teams from Carson, El Segundo, Harvard-Westlake, Marlborough, Marymount, Mira Costa, Palos Verdes and Valencia high schools. Teams will face two schools each day of competition.
Top teams qualify for the playoffs which will be held Saturday, May 5 beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Anneberg Community Beach House.
“Having specialized in junior beach volleyball competition for more than 20 years, we are looking forward to the upcoming season for our local high school athletes competing this season and providing an opportunity to participate in the newest NCAA sport,” stated AAU Beach Volleyball Commissioner Gino Grajeda. “The birthplace of the sport took place right here on the beaches of Southern California, it is only fitting that we also inaugurate the first interscholastic beach volleyball league.”
Teams begin with a non-league match Saturday morning followed by league play openers at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. Mira Costa tunes-up with a 10 a.m. match against Harvard-Westlake at 10 a.m. and begins its quest for the first league title when the Mustangs take on Palos Verdes at 12 p.m.
The Mustangs will face Marymount and Marlborough on March 24; Carson and Valencia on March 31 and El Segundo and Harvard-Westlake on April 28.
Complete schedules are posted at www.aaa-volleyball.d4sportsclub.com.
The league is supported by the AAU National Executive Volleyball Committee and Championship Volleyball.
