A lot has changed over the last year in women's beach volleyball as the California Community College Athletics Association approaches its second ever State Championships.
There are more teams this season (up from 12 to 24) and the competition is much tougher.
But even with some differences, a lot has stayed the same for the state team final, which will be played at Grossmont College at 10 a.m. on Friday.
This year's Team Championship has the same four teams as 2015 with Irvine Valley, Grossmont, Golden West and Cabrillo once again meeting at state.
Top-seeded Irvine Valley College comes in with a deceiving 11-6 overall record thanks to competing against multiple NCAA schools throughout the season. The defending state and 2016 Orange Empire Conference champion swept through conference play with a record of 7-0 and won its regional 5-0 and 4-1 over Bakersfield and Mira Costa, respectively. The Lasers also defeated the third seeded Golden West, 4-1, in OEC play this year.
Irvine Valley is led by its No. 1 pairs team of sophomores Emily Reinking and Hailee Earnest. The duo captured the OEC title for individuals.
State Championship host Grossmont comes in as the inaugural state runner-up and current Pacific Coast Athletic Conference champion. Having played a state-high 24 matches, Grossmont is 21-3 overall and enters the championship off regional victories over Fullerton (4-1) and Ventura (5-0).
Golden West returns to the championship as the only team to advance that did not host their regional. Carrying a 10-3 record, GWC avenged an early season loss to regional host El Camino with a 3-2 upset victory to go along with a 4-1 win over San Diego Mesa to advance. The Rustlers will look to avenge another regular season loss that came at the hands of IVC in conference play.
The final team competing for the team championship is Cabrillo, who is representing Northern California for the second straight year. A perfect 10-0 overall and in conference play, Cabrillo defeated Gavilan and Feather River both by scores of 4-1.
The round robin team tournament begins Friday at 10 a.m. with Irvine Valley taking on Cabrillo followed by Grossmont against Golden West.
The state pairs tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday at Grossmont. Nineteen different schools will be represented in the event. The 32-pair bracket includes seven schools sending multiple pairs with El Camino bringing a state-high 4 teams.
Irvine Valley has three teams that include Reinking and Earnest, sophomore Hannah Matt and freshman Carlee Roethlisberger and sophomore Kayla Scheevel and freshman Olivia Aguilar.
This will be the first year of the single bracket format with the first two rounds set for Saturday and the quarters, semis and hampionship match scheduled for Sunday.
Information provided by Chris Huerta, CCCSIA
