London Chow’s golden summer got a bit brighter Sunday when she and partner Sara Hughes captured the gold medal at the AAU Best of the Beach tournament held last weekend in Hermosa Beach. The win marked Chow’s sixth beach volleyball title this season, each with a different partner which is all part of the grand scheme of things.
“I want London to adapt to other players, not have them adapt to her,” said London’s father Lui, an exercise physiologist/strength and conditioning coach who began teaching London the game of volleyball when she was in the 4th grade.
“I’m not that comfortable playing with different partners all the time but it does help my game a lot,” London admitted. “It makes me a stronger player by not only improving my overall game, but increasing my ability to focus and make adjustments during a match.”
Although Chow had won a gold medal this summer at the AAU Junior Olympics when she partnered with Hermosa Beach resident Susannah Muno, she was originally slated to compete in the Best of the Beach with Chrissy Jones. When Jones and Hughes’ partner Justine Wong-Orantes – who had captured gold with Hughes at the AAU Huntington Beach Open – were forced to drop out of the tournament because of prior commitments, Chow and Hughes connected to make a quick, yet formidable team.
Playing with her seventh partner in 10 beach volleyball events this season – Chow had also competed in 10 indoor tournaments – the Redondo Beach resident took everything in stride.
Between beach and indoor games, the majority of players in the tournament have played together or against each other at some time in previous competitions. The exception was the silver-medal winning team from Canada which had qualified by winning the AAU/OVA Canadian Regional Championships and provided an unfamiliar foe for the Southern California duo.
It proved irrelevant as Chow and Hughes swept Julie Longman (Newmarket, ON) and Tiadora Mirix (Thornhill, ON) 21-12, 21-16. Chow recorded seven kills, seven assists, five digs and three aces in the victory.
“We watched the Canadian team earlier and knew they were good and that we would face them sooner or later,” Chow said. “We just had to play our game because all the teams in the tournament were very competitive.”
Presented by Kauai Bikini, the event featured ten teams in the girls 16U division that had qualified through previous AAU tournaments. Redondo Beach sisters Abril and Olivia Bustamante were two of five girls from the South Bay who qualified. Mira Costa’s Sammy Furlan (Manhattan Beach) and Elise Zappia (Long Beach) defeated Muno (who attends Notre Dame Academy) and Sydney Bast (Upland) in the 5th-place match.
In the Best of the Beach 14U tournament held the previous week at Roxbury Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, Abril Bustamante and Natalie Anselmo (Malibu) won silver medals and the Manhattan Beach duo of Katie Barkley and Emma Smith finished in 4th place.
Chow’s title was her fourth on the AAU tour this year. The 16-year-old won the Spring Classic with Lan Nguyen (Manhattan Beach), the Los Angeles Open with Taylor Johnson (Temecula) and the Junior Olympics with Muno. Chow also has two gold medals from California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) tournaments including a championship in Hermosa Beach on August 14 when she teamed with Alex Murphy (Laguna Beach).
Chow recently moved from Palm Springs to Redondo Beach in order to play for Tommy Chaffin’s Sea Hawk squad where she is projected to be a defensive specialist.
“I really want to have a successful future in volleyball and knew I had to move out here (South Bay) to do it,” said Chow, who is entering her junior year. “Now I can come out here anytime I want to practice and play. That was really hard to do that out there (Palm Springs). There is so much more competition out here and it’s a lot more fun. I’d like to play indoor and beach volleyball in college and hopefully can take that experience on to the next level in beach volleyball somewhere.”
Although the AAU concludes its 2011 season this weekend with its Tour Championships, Chow has opted not to enter the tournament. Her focus now is with her new high school team, which will be hosting a four-team tournament Saturday. The event will feature some of the best teams in CIF Southern Section Division 1AA. Slated to compete are defending champion Long Beach Poly, 2010 semifinalist Los Alamitos, and Harvard Westlake (last year’s No. 1 seed entering the 1AA playoffs) who will take on host and 1AA runner-up Redondo.
In the CIF pre-season poll released this week, Los Alamitos is the top ranked team in Division 1-AA. Redondo sits at No. 3 behind Dos Pueblos (who defeated the Sea Hawks in the Oxnard Summer Tournament) and Long Beach Poly is listed at No. 7, one spot ahead of Mira Costa.
“The volleyball program at Redondo is great and our coach is awesome.” Chow said. “I’m so excited to being playing here, and all my teammates have been so welcoming. Playing against such good teams all the time is something I haven’t experienced before and I’m really looking forward to the season.”
The AAU Tour Championships starts at 9 a.m. Sunday at the Hermosa Beach Pier where boys and girls in 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U divisions compete for the title. Entry fees are $65 per team. For more information, contact Gino Grajeda, ggrajeda181@msn.com or www.aaubeach.org.
