Chafeh, Ciarelli are Best of the Beach

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 14, 2011) – Jane Chafeh (Fontana, Calif./Cal State San Bernardino) and Tony Ciarelli (Huntington Beach/USC) each earned the title Best of the Beach on Saturday at the CBS Sports Alt Games Collegiate Beach Championship in San Diego, Calif.

In the Best of the Beach format, players are matched up with different partners, for each match until the final, when they play with the same partner as the semifinals.

In the women’s championship match, Chafeh partnered with Traci Weamer (Upland, Calif./Concordia University, Irvine) to defeat Jessica Gysin (Los Gatos, Calif./USC),  and Caitlin Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Pepperdine), 15-10, 16-14.

In the men’s championship match, Ciarelli and partner Brent Schirripa (Los Angeles, Calif./Pepperdine) came back to defeat Joey Dykstra (Redondo Beach, Calif./USC) and Mark Van Zwieten (Pompano Beach, Fla./Florida Atlantic), 11-15, 15-9, 15-8.

All sets in the final were played to 15 points due to the television coverage.  The final matches are scheduled to be shown on CBS Sports later this summer.

Chafeh was the only player in the tournament to come from an NCAA Division II school. But Cal State San Bernardino has been a perennial contender for the NCAA Division II National Championship and Chafeh, a two-time member of the AVCA Division III All-American first team was not flustered by playing against athlete from Division I schools.

“It’s always a little pressure,” Chafeh said. “But it’s mostly coming from myself because I always want to win.”

On her way to the Best of the Beach title, Chafeh went 5-0 and partnered with Alyse Hensley (San Diego, Calif./Loyola Marymount), Emily Stockman (Colorado Springs, Colo./Wichita State) and Cassidy Lichtman (Poway, Calif./Stanford) before joining with Weamer in the semifinals.

Chafeh and Weamer won the semifinals over Lara Dykstra (Redondo Beach, Calif./Nebraska)  and Angela Bensend (Plano, Texas/Louisiana State), 9-15, 15-6, 15-13 before topping Gysin and Racich in the final.

Weaver, who had to explain to more than one person where Concordia University is, said she did not feel pressure from outside source and  credited the championship victory to “keeping the ball in play and serving aggressively.”

While Chafeh has played mostly indoor volleyball, Ciarelli, on the men’s side, has been successful both indoors and on the beach.

In 2008, he and partner Jeff Carlson (Newport Beach, Calif./USC) won the silver medal at the FIVB Beach Youth World Championship. Ciarelli has also been a three-year starter at USC and was on the 2009 U.S Men's Junior National Team that placed eighth at the FIVB World Championship.

Ciarelli also went 5-0 on his way to the championship match. Along the way, he partnered with Dykstra, Parker Kalmbach (Coto De Caza, Calif./Pepperdine) and Matthew McCarthy (Wheaton, Ill./Ball State).

Ciarelli and Schirripa defeated Carlson and Kalmbach in the semifinals, 15-10, 10-15, 15-9 before beating Dykstra and Van Zwieten in the final.

Ciarelli gave credit to his opponent in the final.

“Joey Dykstra is probably the best player here, but he didn’t have his best game today,” he said.

Tags: Beach, Beach Volleyball, college volleyball, Tony Ciarelli