(Long Beach, CA) For the first time in the short Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball history, two Mounties pairs have qualified for the CCCAA Southern California Regionals.
Five Mt. SAC pairs competed in the two-day South Coast Conference Tournament at Long Beach City College on Friday and Saturday (April 28, 29), and the two duos of No. 1 Seed Riley DeGroot/Paige Gutowski and No. 3 Seed Allison Whiteman/Bristol Christelman will both advance to the So Cal's Regionals on May 5th & 6th at El Camino College.
"I'm incredibly proud of our top three pairs for making the top eight in our conference and for two of them qualifying for regional playoffs which is the furthest a pair has ever made it in Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball history," Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball coach Danielle Diaz said. "For the other pairs who did not qualify, I know they are staying focused and excited to compete for team regionals."
The top seed pairs in the tournament, DeGroot/Gutowski, also had a bye first round. They played against the No. 17 seed team from El Camino, which qualified them to day 2. On day 2, they lost their first match against the No. 8 seed team from College of the Desert. They played the No. 5 seed pairs team (Rio Hondo) in the loser basket and won, which qualified them to the So Cal Regionals. They played their third and final match of the day, defeating the No. 6 seed (LBCC) to finish fifth in the tournament.
No. 3 Seed Whiteman/Christelman started the tournament with a bye in the first round and defeated the No 14 Seed team from LBCC in round 2 on day one to qualify for day 2. They won their first match against the No. 6 Seed team from LBCC to automatically qualify for the So Cal's. They lost their second match of the day to the No. 2 Seed team from El Camino.
Whiteman/Christelman finished the tournament with third place, as they defeated the No. 8 Seed pairs team from COD.
The pairs team of Angelina Burton/Riannel Arevalo was seated No. 10 and defeated the No. 23 seed from El Camino and won their match in the second round against the No. 7 seed El Camino, which qualified them to day 2. On day 2, they lost their first match against the No. 2 seed from El Camino and did not qualify for regionals.
The team of Liz Ortiz/Capri Salmon was seeded No. 11 and won their match in the first round against the No. 22 seed from LBCC. In round 2, they lost against No. 6 seed LBCC.
No. 20 Seed Kylie Rhodes/JJ Quarrels lost in the first round against the No. 13 seed from El Camino.
The pairs regionals brackets are still pending and will be announced soon on the CCCAA website.
As for the CCCAA team regionals, No. 3 Seed Mt. SAC will host both No. 6 El Camino and No. 11 Grossmont on Tuesday (May 2).
The action begins at 10:00 am, with the pool winner advancing to the CCCAA State Championships May 11-13 at West Valley College in Saratoga.