Hill, Racich Win Gold Division in All-Pepperdine Final

The top collegiate beach volleyball players from California converged on the Hermosa Beach sand Saturday to compete in USA Volleyball’s Beach Collegiate Challenge.

Pepperdine placed two teams in the final. Kim Hill and Caitlin Racich defeated fellow Pepperdine teammates Stevi Robinson of Hermosa Beach and Emily Cook 21-15, 21-11 to claim the gold division title.

“It was fun to play against our teammates, to finish top two with our friends, that’s great for us no matter whether we won,” Robinson said.

Not surprisingly, Pepperdine took home the team trophy with 640 points from aggregate matches. The University of Southern California followed closely behind with a second place total of 620 and Long Beach State in third with 380.

In the tournament, a majority of the teams were seeing their first competitive action together in a doubles format.

“All last week we practiced on the beach, but we don’t get to play with each other much so you just have to pick it up on the fly,” Robinson said.

USC’s Kendall Bateman of Manhattan Beach and Katie Fuller tied with fellow Trojan teammates Geena Urango and Natalie Hagglund for third in the gold division.

Twenty-seven teams competed in pool play matches, setting up placement into three brackets—gold, silver and bronze.

University of California, Santa Barbara’s Mimi Cuttrell and Kara Sherrard defeated USC’s Sam Hirschmann of Manhattan Beach and Kirby Burnham in the silver division final 21-19, 21-16.

“This was a lot of fun, Kirby is my roommate, but we have not played together before. We were rusty the first couple days last week training since we’re used to indoor, but it’s been great,” Hirschmann said.

The USA Volleyball Beach Collegiate Challenge is part of a series of competitions in California, Florida and Colorado in an effort to showcase the best collegiate players and prepare them for upcoming collegiate competitions in college as well as International or Olympic play.

Team rosters were peppered with names familiar to South Bay fans, as Robinson and UCSB’s Erica Lau are from host city Hermosa Beach.

“It is really fun to come back down here, I feel very comfortable at home. The sand is a little bit deeper than it is in Santa Barbara so I can’t jump as high, though,” Lau said.

USC’s Bateman and Hirschmann as well as University of California, Irvine’s Pauline Acres hail from Manhattan Beach and UCI’s Lauren Allen represents Redondo Beach.

Sand volleyball will become an NCAA sport in the 2011-2012 season with several schools interviewing coaches to begin their programs.

Ali Wood Lamberson, USA Volleyball’s director of beach programs, is excited about contributing to the growth of the sport.

“The level of competition has grown a ton. We had nine schools represented and these girls are really excited to represent their schools and are working hard,” Lamberson said.

Many players have agreed.

“More than half of the team wants to play beach,” Hirschmann said. “It’s a breath of fresh air, because you have more freedom out here than indoor.”

The characteristics usually seen in top sand players is a little different from that of the indoor set, Lamberson added.

“Over 50 percent of our high-performance athletes are outside hitters. You see the all-around utility player who can pass, set, and dig in a pinch,” Lamberson said. “Mobility is more important than height on the beach, you need a lot of different shots out there."