There are few better ways to celebrate beach volleyball Sophomore Day than with a pair of wins over West Valley's top rivals. The Vikings completed that task Friday with a 5-0 sweep of De Anza and a stirring 3-2 reverse-sweep victory over previously unbeated Cabrillo. The twin wins extended WVC's Coast Conference winning streak to seven and clinched third place in the ultra-competitive Coast. West Valley (12-9, 11-3 Coast) now head to the postseason, biginning with Friday's (4/28) Coast pairs Tournament at Main Beach in Santa Cruz.
The Vikings honored six sophomores - Gabrielle Carbonel, Devin Derecho, Kiana Manson, Flor Porras and Tristin Sahlie - after the De Anza match.
Friday's opener against Cabrillo between two of the state's top teams had a little bit of everything. The first flight went to the Seahawks, as Viking 2's Devin Derecho/Sydney Rogers fell to Alana Patyk-Randa/Lindsay Heller and the WVC 4's Gabrielle Carbonel/Maggie Carroll lost to Kelea Saxton/Paola Jacobs to give Cabrillo (16-3, 11-1) a 2-0 lead heading to flight two.
West Valley tied it at 2-2 on sweeps by 1's Flor Porras/Kiana Manson and 5's Amelie Moya/Sydney Pista. All eyes turned to court two where West Valley's Tristin Sahlie and Taylor Vales were battling Emma Martin and Lila Wright. Sahlie/Vales took set one 21-14 and fell 21-17 in the second to set up a climactic set three that would determine not just the 3's, but the team match. Sahlie/Vales rallied from a 9-6 deficit to win - on a Sahlie block of a Martin attempt - the clincher 15-11 and give the Vikings a 3-2 match win.
There was no letdown for the Vikings against De Anza (4-14, 3-11) as they swept four of the five matches with the Mountain Lions.
Complete WVC/Cabrillo scores:
1's: Flor Porras/Kiana Manson (WVC) defeat Erin Eschleman/Natalie Taggart (CAB) 21-16, 21-18
2's: Alana Patyk-Randa/Lindsay Heller (CAB) defeat Devin Derecho/Sydney Rogers (WVC) 21-14, 21-4
3's: Taylor Vales/Tristin Sahlie (WVC) defeat Emma Martin/Lila Wright (CAB) 21-14, 17-21, 15-11
4's: Kalea Saxton/Paola Jacobs (CAB) defeat Gabrielle Carbonel/Maggie Carroll (WVC) 21-13, 21-16
5's: Amelie Moya/Sydney Pista (WVC) defeat Renee Parker/Bibi Bartlett (CAB) 21-5, 21-12
Complete WVC/De Anza scores:
1's: Flor Porras/Kiana Manson (WVC) defeat Asia Truong/Kayla Mendoza (DA) 21-14, 21-12
2's: Devin Derecho/Sydney Rogersw (WVC) defeat Frankie Padilla/Rachel Walkup (DA) 21-10, 21-15
3's: Taylor Vales/Tristin Sahlie (WVC) defeat Sofie Cox/Karina Mota (DA) 21-11, 21-13
4's: Gabrielle Carbonel/Maggie Carroll (WVC) defeat Molly Crosby/Janelle Langarica (DA) 21-9, 19-21, 15-8
5's: Amelie Moya/Sydney Pista (WVC) defeat Yaremi Perez/Tristen Jozefowicz (DA) 21-16, 21-13