Rio Hondo College's top duo of freshmen Andrea Velasco and Madison Mader have received the No. 2 overall seed to lead the Roadrunners' beach volleyball team into action at Friday's (April 20) South Coast Conference Pairs Tournament. Play begins at 9 a.m. and will take place at the Granada Beach courts in Long Beach.
Velasco and Mader earned a first-round bye and will take on the winner of No. 15 Keirra Coatney/Brianda Valdez of Mt. San Antonio College and No. 18 Mariah Clausen/Doris Woods of tournament host Long Beach City College.
Rio Hondo's No. 2 squad of Sara Harding and Michelle Rosas were named the No. 7 seed and will take on the No. 10-seeded team of Jaylin Motley/Sarah Dyer of El Camino College.
The No. 3 Roadrunner duo of Natalie Magallon and Michell Chavez-Valdivia are seeded No. 11 and will face the No. 6 squad of Phina Leilua/Aiko Waters from El Camino.
At No. 4 for Rio Hondo, the duo of Felipa Moreno and Stephanie Garcia earned the No. 16 seed for the event and will battle No. 17 Melissa Euyoque/Kiana Takahashi of El Camino. The winner of that opening-round match advances to face No. 1 overall seed Sierra Davis/Josannah Vazquez of Long Beach.
And No. 5 for the Roadrunners, Michelle Hawkins and Bree Newton are seeded No. 20 and will take on No. 13 Natasha Dutko/Jossie Tomita from El Camino. Winner moves on to play No. 4 Malia Carr/ Shaianne Palos of Mt. SAC.
Rio Hondo recently wrapped up the regular season with a 9-10 overall record and went 2-4 in conference play to finish in third place.
Teams will be competing for the chance to advance to the Southern California Regionals on May 4. Pairs State Championships are set for May 11-12 at West Valley College.