Indiana Duo Snags Beach Volleyball Title

For most of the AAU Junior Beach Volleyball season in Southern California, South Bay teams have dominated.

But the strong runs of many top teams in major brackets came to an end Sunday at the 18th annual AAU Junior Beach Volleyball National championships in Hermosa Beach. 

In the 18U Boys Division it was Hoosiers on the beach as the Carmel, Indiana duo of Brendan Duff and Branden Clemens beat Manhattan Beach’s Chris Orenic and Dillon Hoffman of San Clemente to capture gold.

Saving the day for the South Bay, was Palos Verdes duo Cole Fiers and Brendon Hong with their gold medal victory in the boys’ 16U division. 

Hong and Fiers who both play for the Palos Verdes Varsity Volleyball team showed they’ve got the skills to be successful on the hardwood and the sand. 

In their championship final, Fiers and Hong faced Jackson Bantle (Pacific Palisades) and Matt Butler (Huntington Beach), a team they had lost to during Saturday’s pool play. 

The rematch wasn’t close as Fiers and Hong dominated on both offense and defense en route to a 28-18 win. 

The partners jumped out to a 12-3 lead and smothered Bantle and Butler the rest of the match. 

“Today we made way less mistakes,” said Fiers of the difference in the rematch. “We jumped on them quick and got an early lead. We sided out back and forth for the rest of the game to get the win.”

“We had good serving, good ball control, and I think they made a lot of mistakes,” added Hong.  “We never let them get in any kind of rhythm.”

There’s a bit of irony in the Fiers-Hong partnership.  Hong plays outside hitter indoors and Fiers is a setter, yet Fiers praised Hong’s ability to set him up for kill on a consistent basis as a key factor in their success. 

Fier and Hong’s gleaming gold medals they now have for their trophy cases as AAU Junior Beach Volleyball National Champions showcases the team’s bright future in the sport. 

In the girls 16U and 18U finals, a pair of Redondo Union High varsity players had to settle for silver instead of the coveted gold medal.   

In the 18U finals Redondo Beach’s Tiffany Morales and partner Alexis Strange (San Clemente) dropped a 28-20 match to the Orange County duo of Sara Hughes and Justine Wong-Orantes.

Morales and Strange had defeated Wong-Orantes and Hughes during Saturday’s pool play action but were unable to make it two in a row and settled for silver. 

Redondo Union’s London Chow and partner Mikeala Taylor (Long Beach) dropped a heartbreaker in the girls 16U finale to the San Diego based team of Lacey Knuttila and Ciana Wanger. 

The match seesawed through with multiple lead changes, and neither team led by more than 3. It was anybody’s game through its entirety. 

Taylor and Chow went up 27-25 but were unable to close the match and ended on the wrong end of the scoreboard at 30-28.

“We fought hard and just came up short in the end,” Chow said. “I tried hard to end it at match point but we just didn’t finish it.”

In the girls U10 division, Manhattan Beach locals Lindsey Kelly and Ivy Stevens rolled to a 21-13 victory over ZyAire Garrit of Lakewood and Eliza Cannon of Santa Ana. 

In the girls’ 12U division Lily Snyder of Manhattan Beach teamed with Devon Chang of Pacific Palisades to take down the Huntington Beach duo of Lindsey Sparks and Cami Sanchez by a 28-23 margin. 

In the Boys 12U division the South Bay’s best performance came from the Manhattan Beach team of Kyle Jasuta and Bobby Barkley who captured bronze medals. 

Manhattan Beach partners Grace Campbell and Keala Rusher settled for silver in the girls’ 14U division after dropping the championship match 28-15 to the Orange County team of Hayley Hodson and Chrissy Jones.

It was the same story in the boys 14U division for Manhattan Beach partners Casey Mcgarry and Roy McFarland as they dropped a close final match to Matt Douglas of Pacific Palisades and Woody Cook of West Los Angeles, to capture silver.