Beach Volleyball Standouts: Morales, Dykstra, Pardon

The Beach Cities continue to produce young, local talent in beach volleyball—after coming up short in their initial effort, Redondo’s Tiffany Morales and Mira Costa's Jace Pardon landed a championship in the sport last weekend.

The pair teamed together to claim the title of the USA Volleyball Youth Beach High Performance under-19 division last Saturday in Manhattan Beach.

Morales and Pardon defeated the team of Kamila Tan of San Diego and Jensen Button of Menifee, 28-23, in the final.

“We stepped up when we needed to,” Morales said. “And we played against some difficult teams as well. Jace and I just stayed focused. It really felt good to win.”

Pardon said, “We came in ready to play. We’re starting to connect better with out setting and getting used to playing better with each other. I think we both wanted a better outcome to make up for that horrible loss.”

The “horrible loss” occurred when she and Morales lost in the final round of in Hermosa Beach two weeks ago.

The duo rolled through the first three rounds of competition before being knocked out of the under-19 division in the opening match of the final round. Still, both said they’ve enjoyed being paired together.

“I really like playing with Tiffany,” said Pardon, who will play beach volleyball next season at Florida State. “She’s really scrappy and she has a lot of control. She’s a really good passer and she sets me really well. I like knowing when I go up for a block that a player is going to pick me up and Tiffany does it all of the time. She’s a great player.”

“Jace is really encouraging during a game, even when I mess up,” Morales said. “She has a huge swing and it really helps. I can just toss her a ball and she’ll just swing away. She’s really good. At first, we were a little tentative of where to set each other and how things would play out. But once we started flowing, everything started working out.”

Morales also played with her Redondo teammate, Skylar Dykstra, to capture a title at the Volleyball Rags AAU Americas Challenge Tournament at Manhattan Beach last Sunday. They stopped Cassie Strickland of Huntington Beach and Rebecca Strehlow of Long Beach, 23-21, 21-19.

It was the first time Morales and Dykstra played together in beach volleyball competition since last summer.

“Skylar and I had a really tough match,” Morales said. “They’re really good skilled players, especially Rebecca. Skylar and I stepped it up and we made sure every point we were going for the ball like it was the last point. We were making sure we put the pressure on them.”