Three VC beach volleyball duos are headed to next week's CCCAA State Championships in Southern California's Top-13 after the completion of play at the SoCal Pairs Championships at El Camino College Saturday. After advancing to the regional quarterfinals, Savannah Marchese and Averi Carter are SoCal's No. 8 team while Amaris Garcia and Katey Mulville will head to state as SoCal's No. 11 seed. Alexis Baloyo and Amelie Zubia will take to the court next week as the No. 13 team from Southern California.
Marchese, who advanced to the SoCal quarterfinals with a pair of wins Friday, had a more difficult day Saturday against the regions top teams. They fell to the No. 4-seed from Irvine Valley 21-13, 21-9 before coming up short against the top-seed from Grossmont, 21-18, 21-11. They became the SoCal No. 8 seed for state with a 21-8, 21-15 setback against SoCal's No. 3 pair from Santa Barbara.
Meanwhile, Garcia and Mulville, who entered the draw at No. 20, drew an automatic advance when their opponents from San Diego City could not play due to injury. They then dropped a match to the No. 5-seed from College of the Desert, 21-12, 21-10 before receiving SoCal's No. 11 seed at state when their opponents from Irvine Valley did not participate Saturday.
Baloyo and Zubia, ranked No. 18 in Southern California entering the regionals, fell 21-14, 21-17 to the No. 23 duo from San Diego Mesa before advancing past the No. 14 team from Irvine Valley by forfeit. THey closed the day with a 23-21, 21-18 win over the No. 16-seed from Santa Barbara.
All three VC pairs will play in four-team round-robin pools at the CCCAA State Championships on Friday May 13 at Irvine Valley College. The pool winners will then play down an eight-team single elimination bracket on Saturday May 14 to determine the state champion.