Mira Costa girls win inaugural beach volleyball State Championship
Mira Costa captured the inaugural Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League State Championship with sweeps against Branson and Palisades Charter. Team members include (left to right) Rio Frohoff, Alexia Inman, Sunny Villapando, Piper Monk-Heidrich, Maddie Micheletti and Riley Hazelrigg. Photo by Kat Monk
Mira Costa’s girls beach volleyball team increased its winning streak to 71 matches with two sweeps at the first Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League State Championship held Saturday at Metro Beach Center in Chatsworth.
Winning the inaugural State Championship put an exclamation point on a season dominated by the Mira Costa team. [See last week’s Easy Reader cover story, Mustang Dynasty]
The Mustangs, who have not lost since the Southern Pacific finals in 2012, defeated Northern California champion Branson (Ross) in the semifinals then Bay Division and Southern Pacific runner-up Palisades Charter to claim the title.
Each school fields three pairs and the first team to have two pairs to win their matches wins the match between the schools. Point Loma of San Diego was the fourth team qualified for the event and beat Branson for 3rd place.
The San Diego District began one year after the Southern Pacific fielding eight teams in 2013 and has increased to four divisions this year.
“Northern California had one division (league) in the Bay Area and was new this year,” Southern Pacific Commissioner Gino Grajeda said. “The district also invited several schools to bring a team to an open event urging more schools to add programs in the Bay Area in 2018. This also prompted the Sacramento area schools to form divisions of play next season and be a part of the Northern California IBVL.”
Monk-Heidrich and Villapando moved up to the No. 1 team for the State Championship after playing as the Mustang’s No. 2 squad in its Southern Pacific title win last week.
“I was very confident in my whole team that we would be able to keep winning.,” Monk-Heidrich said. “We always play our best. It’s nice to help the legacy continue for Mira Costa and we have a good group of girls coming up so I expect to continue our winning streak next season.”
Mira Costa’s No. 3 team of senior Rio Frohoff and sophomore Riley Hazelrigg defeated each opponent 2-0 as did the No. 2 squad of seniors Alexia Inman and Maddie Micheletti.
Since both pairs swept their matches, the Mustang’s No. 1 team of junior Piper Monk-Heidrich and senior Sunny Villapando were not required to finish its semifinal and final matches after winning the first game in each contest.
Mira Costa defeated Palisades Charter the previous week to win the Southern Pacific championship.
Mira Costa’s girls beach volleyball program has become a breeding ground for NCAA Division 1 players. Team members on this year’s squad committed to play at the next level are Frohoff (Tulane), Inman ((UC Berkeley), Micheletti (UC Berkeley), Piper Mink-Heidrich (UCLA) and Villapando (Stanford).