Dana Hills captured the second Southern Pacific Boys’ Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League championship Saturday defeating three Bay Division teams, including Mira Costa 2-1 in the final at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.
Bay Division champion Mira Costa’s No. 2 team was the lone victor among its three two-man teams as the Mustangs finished with a silver medal.
Mira Costa earned a spot in the final with a close 2-1 victory over Saddleback Valley Christian while Dana Hills defeated defending IBVL champion Redondo in the semifinals.
Mira Costa opened the playoffs Thursday with a win by forfeit when San Marcos failed to show up. The Mustangs swept San Clemente 3-0 in the quarterfinals to begin action on Saturday.
“While we’re disappointed with not finishing off the season with a win, we faced a very good Dana Hills team,” Mira Costa coach Scott Davenport said. “They had talented and experienced beach players in all three pairs positions. The thing that impressed me the most about their players was their ball control, defense and hustle. I wouldn’t say that Dana Hills was much better than the last time we played them, they just played a consistent style of play and didn’t make many unforced errors. That type of volleyball will always put you in a good position to win. We didn’t play our best match against them, but hats off to them. They were better than us on Saturday and earned the win.”
Redondo defeated Camarillo 3-0 Thursday to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal round where the Sea Hawks swept Westlake, which entered the match with a 9-1 record,
Redondo fell to the senior-laden Dana Hills team 2-1 in the semifinals and finished as bronze medalists. The Sea Hawks were led by Lucas Lossone/Logan Glave (No. 1 team), Logan Gehman/Sean-Michael Cramer (No. 2) and Erik McCarthy/Nathan Rice (No. 3). Rice is the only senior among the six starters.
Dana Hills beat Palos Verdes 3-0, the Bay Division’s third-place team, in the quarterfinals.
While varsity teams were playing their opening-round playoff matches at Dockweiler State Beach on Thursday, Redondo’s JV-1 team was winning the JV Championship.
The Sea Hawks defeated Westlake JV 2-1 to win their second consecutive JV title. Westlake entered the match with a 10-1 record after defeating San Clemente earlier on Thursday. Westlake had lost to Redondo in the first match of the season.
Redondo’s JV-1 squad consisted of Chris Dedo, Evan Murray, Nick Craddock, Cinjun Coe, Paul Viggiano, Cole Styeck, Ian Pizzuti and Jake Ernst.
