Spiker Huntington Beach Earn Club Champion at 2023 U.S. Beach Club Championship

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 12, 2023) –  Thirty-one teams competed in the 2023 U.S. Beach Club Championship, with Spiker Huntington Beach named Club Champion overall as the event wrapped up on Tuesday in Hermosa Beach, Calif.

The U.S. Beach Club Championship, a joint venture between USA Volleyball and Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), completed its second year on the calendar after running from July 9-11.

U.S. beach volleyball clubs in four age groups (girls 14U, 16U and 18U; boys 14U) competed for the title of top beach club in the nation. The 16s and 18s age groups competed July 9-10. The 14s competed July 10-11. All teams advanced to day two and an eight-team, single-elimination bracket.

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Boys 14U

Rockstar, Balboa Bay, SVC Quicksilver, and Evolution were the four clubs competing in the 14U boys division with three pairs in the sand per club.

In the duel portion of the event, Rockstar swept Evolution, and SCVC defeated Balboa Bay 2-1 to set the stage for the final.

In the gold medal matches, Rockstar’s Elogious Holder/Logan Flores bested SCVC’s Julian Lee/Enzo Longhi 21-12, 23-21. Rockstar’s second pairing of Brady Gonnerman/Noah Gan defeated Tullan Portock/Jaime Vega 21-19, 23-21. Rockstar’s final pairing of Jake Gaines/Nicolas Brazao went three sets against SCVC’s Sai Santiago/Joseph Rogers, winning 2-1 (11-21,22-20,15-12) to earn Rockstar the Boys 14U title.

Balboa Bay defeated Evolution 2-1 to earn bronze.

Girls 14U

The quarterfinals of girls 14U saw Spiker Beach Red defeat One Beach 3-0 to advance to the semifinals against Spiker Beach Black. Golden Gate Gold defeated 692West 2-1 to earn a meeting with Madsand in the semis.

Spiker Black defeated Spiker Red in two sets, setting the gold medal match up against Madsand, who defeated Golden Gate 2-1.

In the final matches of the tournament, Spiker’s Ella Olson/Zoe Znider defeated Madsand’s Gentry Barker/Sophee Peterson 2-1 (21-12, 22-24, 15-13). Janie McCanna/Gabriella Souza defeated Madsand’s London Merchant/Lyla Paulsen 21-18, 21-14. Spiker rounded out the sweep with Simrin Adams/Marley Robinson winning 21-23, 21-14, 15-11 to take the championship.

“The level of beach volleyball in the U.S. is taking over the world,” said Spiker co-head coach, Jake Gibb. “It’s really amazing. The example of this was 14U volleyball. These girls are hand setting, jump serving, hammering balls…they have a complete game at this age and it is just going to make the whole energy of beach volleyball get better.”

Girls 16U

Spiker also got off to a good start in this division as Beach Black 16U defeated Silver Beach 2-1 in the quarterfinals. However, their luck ran out in a 2-1 result against MBsand Black in the semis. 210 Beach bested One Beach 3-0 in the quarterfinals, but they were swept in all three matches in the next round by Madsand.

“It was definitely challenging,” said Madsand’s Allyn Brewer, who was paired with Jordyn Scribner out of Dallas, TX. “There is a lot of good competition out here and it was definitely different playing in the wind, because there’s not a lot of wind in Texas, but after we got used to it, I feel like we did pretty good.”

Scribner/Brewer won the first set of their gold medal match, but would drop the next two to MBsand Black’s Mallory LaBreche/Molly LaBreche. Jessie Dueck/Sara Moynihan of MBsand also defeated Capri Romjue/Georgia Whann 21-18, 22-20. MBsand made it 3-0 in the gold medal matches with a 21-18, 21-10 win by Caroline Mackechnie/Avery Towne over Madsand’s Keira Gallegos/Elizabeth Selinger.

Spiker Beach Black defeated 210 Beach to earn third place for 16U.

Girls 18U

As opposed to the three-pair format for the other divisions, girls 18U featured a five-pair format for teams from MBsand, 210 Beach, Spiker, and Madsand.

MBsand Blue won all five semifinal matches against 210 Beach to place them in the final duel for gold. The question remained who would take them on, as Madsand led 2-1 over Spiker through three completed matches.

Megan Freck/Sammy Wood of Spiker rallied in three sets (21-18, 17-21, 16-14) to defeat Madsand’s Kastyn Hoffman/Madelynn Hokanson and tie the round at two matches apiece. In the decider, Spiker’s Giselle Gallegos/Milan Ray lost the first set 21-18, but roared back to win 21-14, 15-9.

The final was split through the first two matches until MBsand’s Elise Lenahan/Isabella Adishian broke the tie with a 21-16, 21-17 win over Summer Witherby/Danielle Sparks.  Ingrid Timon-Johnson/Julia Waugh went three sets with Giselle Gallegos/Milan Ray, but took victory for MBsand 15-21, 21-10, 15-10. In the final match, Meagan O’Leary/Grace Goudy would win 21-19, 21-17 over Sammy Wood/Megan Freck.

When the dust settled, MBsand Blue was the Girls 18U division winner with a 4-1 win over Spiker Beach Black. Madsand would defeat 210 Beach 3-2 in the bronze match to claim third place in the tournament.