SoCal Sports Insider
Author: kpsidavong
A long, long day of beach volleyball concluded with the 20 SoCal Regional pairs advancing to next week's State Tournament.
Irvine Valley played host to what eventually ended up being a 10 hour day of volleyball matches in order to determine who would rightfully be sent to Saratoga, Calif. to compete in the California Community College Athletic Association's State Individual Pairs Tournament.
Grossmont's Khalia Jordan and Felicia Marshall marched in as the No. 7 seed overall and No. 2 from the Orange Empire Conference, and they took it all the way to the championship match and took down Long Beach's Josannah Vasquez and Sierra Davis to capture the overall No. 1 SoCal seed.
While the original count of the regionals was a 32-team bracket, just winning one match to open the day ensured a trip to the State Tournament.
Though, that was a task tough in and of itself.
Irvine's Taira Ka'awaloa and Megan Ramseyer ended the day as the No. 4 seed after winning their first match and taking two hard-fought matches against their teammates Olivia Aguilar and Renata Bath, then following up with a big win over MiraCosta's Claire Kinder and Chloe Tripp.
Despite the big wins, both members ended up in agreement with head coach Tom Pestolesi and forfeited the rest of their matches.
"We had so much momentum," Ramseyer said. "We really wanted to keep playing. We start slow a lot, and we usually have to play catch-up, but we really wanted to keep going."
Pestolesi, who played tournament director, found it unnecessary for his pairs to continue during the day and implored them to move past it.
Something a winner's bracket player could afford? Not really.
Pestolesi had asked his pair of Aguilar and Bath to retire following the loss to Ramseyer and Ka'awaloa, which they happily agreed to.
Bath/Aguilar would end up as the No. 12 seed from the South.
Kinder, who retired after aggravating her right knee during the loss to Ka'awaloa and Ramseyer, had some harsh words for the tournament itself after taking the No. 8 seed.
"The seedings don't even matter," she said. "I could care less."
20 pairs advancing to the State Tournament:
No. 1 – Grossmont College's Khalia Jordan and Felicia Marshall
No. 2 – Long Beach City College's Josannah Vasquez and Sierra Davis
No. 3 – LBCC's Jessica Kaeka and Brooklin Mize
No. 4 – Irvine Valley College's Taira Ka'awaloa and Megan Ramseyer
No. 5 – MiraCosta College's Michelle Mason and Claudia Mathews
No. 6 – San Diego Mesa College's Sarah Connell and Milla Anderson
No. 7 – Riverside City College's Brittney Diffine and Natalie Escher
No. 8 – MCC's Claire Kinder and Chloe Tripp
No. 9 – Grossmont College's Christina Barrameda and Aofiaolela Faa'agi
No. 10 – Santa Monica College's Megan Yoon and Chelsea Bostwick
No. 11- San Diego Palomar College's Kianna Niu and Noemi Ramos
No. 12 – IVC's Olivia Aguilar and Renata Bath
No. 13 – El Camino's Jerephina Leilua and Aiko Waters
No. 14 – MCC's Celin MacDonald and Lana Salazar
No. 15 – Bakersfield College's Alex Paris and Sarah Armendariz
No. 16 – Santa Ana's Viridiana Serrano and Mikelle Taylor
No. 17 – College of the Desert's Ashtyn Lyneis and Nicole Svoboda
No. 18 – Golden West College's Ashleigh Atsaros and Andrea Gonzalez
No. 19 – LBCCs Tatyana Umi and Jordan Diaz
No. 20 – Antelope Valley College's Jasmine Dixon and Heather Emory