Local beach volleyball players returned to the sands of the South Bay last weekend when USA Volleyball (USAV) held it Beach Collegiate Challenge in Hermosa Beach.
Pepperdine’s No. 1 sand volleyball team of Lilla Frederick and Kim Hill defeated the No. 1 team from the USC, which included Mira Costa alum and Hermosa Beach resident Stevi Robinson and Kirby Burnham, in the gold division final 21-19, 21-18.
Pepperdine, the defending NCAA sand volleyball champions, captured the team title at the Beach Collegiate Challenge while Long Beach State finished second. On Sunday, pairs teams from CSU Bakersfield, LBSU, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine USC, Santa Clara, UCLA and USC competed in bracket play in gold (top two teams), silver (No. 3 and 4 teams) and bronze (No. 5 teams) divisions.
In the semifinals, Robinson/Burnham defeated Pepperdine’s No. 2 team of Lara Dykstra (Hermosa Beach, Redondo Union) and Caitlyn Racich.
Also competing in the Gold Division was Santa Clara University’s No. 2 team of Alyssa Anderson (Hermosa, Beach, Mira Costa) and Haley Cameron along with Cal State Bakersfield’s No. 1 team of Shayna Guitare (Torrance, West Torrance) and Mariah Alvidrez.
Competing in the Silver Division was USC’s No. 4 team of Brooke Fournier (Redondo Beach, South Torrance) and Kati Duddridge and reaching the semifinals in the Bronze Division was USC’s No. 5 team of Sam Hirschmann (Manhattan Beach, Marymount) and Natasa Siljkovic.
Maddy Klineman (Manhattan Beach, Mira Costa) played on UCLA’s No. 5 team with Phelix Fincher.
Many players in the tournament are members of USAV’s Beach High Performance Program, which prepares beach volleyball athletes for international competition.
Pairs who competed Sunday received ranking points toward qualifying for the pair competition of the AVCA Sand Volleyball Collegiate Championships on May 3-5 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
“USA Volleyball wants to see collegiate sand volleyball continue to expand across the country,” said Ali Wood Lamberson, USA Volleyball director of beach programs. “We want to make sure sand volleyball programs have every opportunity to compete and that the public has every opportunity to watch them in action.”
