Redondo boys begin defense of IBVL crown

Redondo’s Logan Glave goes for the kill as the Sea Hawks open their IBVL season. Photo by Tracy Gehman

Redondo’s Logan Glave goes for the kill as the Sea Hawks open their IBVL season. Photo by Tracy Gehman

The second season of the boys Interscholastic Beach Volleyball League (IBVL) is underway but Redondo Union will be hard pressed to defend its title.

Sophomore Logan Glave is the only returning starter from last year’s championship team and the league, which is run Southern Pacific Volleyball Committee, has expanded from 18 teams representing 13 schools in its inaugural season to varsity teams from 23 schools and a junior varsity league with 12 teams this year.

“Repeating will be a difficult task and it’s clear that there is a target on Redondo’s back,” said Sea Hawk’s head coach Corey Glave. “Additionally, we play in the Bay Division, which is stacked with talented players from Mira Costa, Palos Verdes, and Palisades. The Bay Division is the top division in the league and each team will play the other team in the division twice. It will take a lot of focus and hard work for this squad to make it to the playoffs, but the players have accepted the commitment and working hard to reach their goals.”

Winward is the fifth team in the Bay Division. Teams in the Bay will play the remainder of their regular season matches at Dockweiler State Beach.

The league consists of five varsity and three junior varsity divisions that will compete at five venues from Santa Barbara to Huntington Beach. Regular season matches take place Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27 followed by the playoffs Oct. 9-11.

Other divisions include Riviera (Camarillo, Oxnard, Rio Mesa, San Marcos, Santa Barbara), Marmonte (Calabasas, Simi Valley, Viewpoint, Westlake), Mission (Alemany, Arrowhead Christian, Bishop Amat, Notre Dame) and Orange (Beckman, Dana Hills, El Dorado, Saddleback Valley Christian, San Clemente).

Redondo’s squad, while still young, will be very competitive with the additions of Logan Gehman, Sean-Michael Cramer, Erik McCarthy and Lucas Lossone (who represented the United States in the U-17 World Championships).

Nathan Rice is a senior who missed a year because of a knee injury but is quickly progressing back into competitive form.  Both Glave and Lossone were part of the USA Volleyball’s National Beach Team for the U-17 Division. Rounding out the squad are senior reserves Wes Graves and Michael Gini.

The Sea Hawks are mentored by two coaches with years of beach volleyball experience. Corey Glave is a professional and international beach volleyball coach and former AVP player and assistant coach Braidy Halverson is a current pro AVP player.

Redondo got off to a quick start this season going undefeated in the first week of the season on Aug. 23.

“We swept Oxnard 3-0, and beat perennial power house San Clemente 2-1,” Glave said. “Even the one match loss was a very competitive match that could have gone either way. Redondo’s Varsity squad continues its unbeaten record in dual match play since the league’s inception.”

The second week of action takes places Saturday, Sept. 6 with Redondo taking on Palisades Charter at 10 a.m. and Palos Verdes at 1 p.m.

Mira Costa’s Varsity lost both of its match-ups, losing to Santa Barbara and 2013 runner-up Dana Hills. The Mustangs face Winward Saturday at 9 a.m. followed by Palos Verdes at 11 a.m.

Redondo is fielding two teams in the Junior Varsity league this year. The Sea Hawks are the defending JV champions and continued where they left off in 2013, beating Westlake-JV and Saddleback Valley Christian with a match total of 6-0 in the first week.  Players include Nick Craddock, Cinjun Coe, Chris Dedo, Evan Murray, Ian Pizzuti and Jacob Ernst.

The newly formed Redondo Frosh/Soph team opened its season with a 2-1 win against Notre Dame then dropped a close 2-1 match to Palos Verdes’ JV squad.

 The Frosh/Soph team consists of Paul Viggiono, Jr, Cole Styeck, Kyle Kosnoff, Dylan Matic, Justice Segura and Gavin Fure.

The Junior Varsity League is comprised of three divisions. The Bay JV Division includes Bishop Amat, Mira Costa, Palos Verdes and the Redondo Frosh/Soph team. Competing in the South JV Division are the Palos Verdes Frosh/Soph team, Redondo, Saddleback Valley Christian and San Clemente. The North JV Division is made up of teams from Camarillo, Notre Dame, Palisades Charter and Westlake.

On Saturday, Redondo’s JV team faces Notre Dame at 12 p.m. and will take on the Palos Verdes Frosh/Soph team at 2 p.m.

Mira Costa plays the Redondo Frosh/Soph squad at 9 a.m. and Camarillo at 1 p.m. Palos Verdes takes on Palisades at 10 a.m. and Saddleback Valley Christian at 2 pm. Palos Verdes’ Frosh/Soph team will face Westlake at 3 p.m.

For results and the season schedule, visit ibvl.org.

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