Beach Tops Pairs Tourney With Two of Top Three Teams

On Friday, the VC beach volleyball team qualified three duos for next week's CCCAA State Pairs Tournament. Kayla Murdoch and Autumn Rojelio Moreno, Olivia Sletten and Ashley Johnson, and Averi Carter and Katey Mulville played Saturday at El Camino for seedings at state with excellent results. Sletten and Johnson earned the SoCal Runner-Up seed while Murdoch and Rojelio finished third. Meanwhile, Carter and Mulville ended the day with strong play despite their No. 8 finish in the draw.

Sletten and Johnson got the day started with a bang, defeating the No. 1 pair from Mt. San Antonio 21-18, 21-9 in their quarterfinal match. Murdoch and Rojelio followed with a big 21-17, 21-15 victory over the No. 1 team from Orange Coast, a pair to whom they had lost earlier in the season.

Meanwhile, Carter and Mulville dropped a 21-10, 21-16 decision to the No. 1 pair from Grossmont, a team made up of two Division I commits and possibly the most talented team in Southern California. 

With the two Pirate teams matched-up in the semifinal, and both already slated for a No. 1 seed in pool play at state, it was decided to determine the "winner" with a coin flip, sending Sletten and Johnson forward. Sletten and Johnson then took on the Grossmont No. 1's in the final, falling 21-15, 21-12.

Murdoch and Rojelio were to play the No. 1 pair from Santa Barbara for third place.  However, having faced each other four times during the season, and with another match slated for the state team finals in less than a week, the two teams went to a coin toss to determine SoCal's No. 3 seed, with the Pirates taking the flip.

Carter and Mulville, not happy with their quarterfinal play, squared off with the No. 1 team from Irvine Valley in the 5th-8th place draw, After falling 21-9 in the opening set, the Pirates came back with a strong effort in the second, dropping a 22-20 decision.  Exhausted after five matches in two days, Carter and Mulville requested a coin flip for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds, but when Mt. SAC wanted to play, they were awarded the forfeit "win." The VC duo, along with the pair from Mt. SAC will each earn a No. 2 seed in pool play at next week's state tournament.

Ventura now will focus on the CCCAA State Team Finals to be contested at West Valley College in Saratoga on Thursday May 11.  The Pirates (21-2), the No. 1-seed from Southern California, will take on South No. 5 Santa Barbara (20-3) and North No. 2 Feather River (17-3) Thursday morning with hopes of advancing to the state championship match Thursday afternoon.

The CCCAA State Pairs Tournament begins with pool play on Friday May 12, also at West Valley.