Sports
Junior Beach Volleyball Pros Prepare for Competition
Hundreds of beach volleyball teams will be competing in Hermosa Beach this weekend as a part of AAU's largest open event.
About 200 teams will be taking over Hermosa Beach Saturday for the AAU Junior Nationals Beach Volleyball Tournament, marking the event's 17th year in the South Bay. Forty-four courts will house all of the action this weekend.
The scale of the event draws teams from all over the country, and past events have included international players from Canada and Puerto Rico. The tournament will showcase two separate divisions for both boys and girls.
The boys brackets will include divisions for age groups 10U, 12U, 14U and 16U. The girls brackets will consist of the same as the boys, with one additional division due to the inclusion of a girls 18U bracket. The boys 18U will be held next weekend at the Association of Volleyball Players tournament, along with the girls AAU Best of the Beach competition.
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The tournament will be two rounds of pool play on Saturday. Teams who qualify for Sunday will then compete in single-elimination playoffs. The finals in each division will feature a center court showcase match to determine the champions.
Probable top teams expected to compete:
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Girls 16U: Audrey Castro (Long Beach, CA) and Makayla Taylor (Downey, CA), Justine Wong-Oranges (Cypress, CA) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, CA), Tiffany Morales (Redondo Beach, CA) and Skylar Dykstra (Hermosa Beach, CA)
Girls 14U: Kimby Keever (Manhattan Beach, CA) and Mandy McKeegan (Manhattan Beach, CA), Rylee Kiger (Norco, CA) and Rebecca Thebeau (Anaheim Hills, CA), Bria Green (Carson, CA) and London Chow (Palm Springs, CA)
Boys 16U: Connor Inlow (Manhattan Beach, CA) and Christopher Orenic (Manhattan Beach, CA), Bobby Romano (El Segundo, CA) and Keith Waddell (Manhattan Beach, CA)
Boys 14U: Tanner Smith (Hermosa Beach, CA) and Louis Richard (Los Angeles, CA), Blake Markland (Manhattan Beach, CA) and Vince Pizzuti (Redondo Beach, CA),
Girls 12U: Emma Smith (Manhattan Beach, CA) and Katie Barkley (Manhattan Beach, CA), Autumn Rounsaville (Dripping Springs, TX) and Reagan Kilgore (Wimberly, TX), Sedona Hansen (Wrightwood, CA) and Kylie Miller (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), McKenna Hines (Laguna Beach, CA) and Lauren Markwith (Huntington Beach, CA)
Time Warner Cable of Los Angeles will broadcast the finals for Girls 18, along with Boys & Girls 16, 14, and 12. Teams can still register here: http://aaubeach.org
