Costa Girls' Beach Volleyball Wins Inaugural CIF Title; Ranked 1st in Nation
May 09, 2023 06:48PM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The Mira Costa girls' beach volleyball team poses after their victory on Saturday. Photo via Nancy Reynolds.
UPDATE: The duo of Erin Inskeep/Charlie Fuerbringer won the CIF Individual Pairs Championship on Wednesday. Tanon Rosenthal/Savanna Lau came in second place in the all-Costa final.
The Mira Costa High School girls' beach volleyball team won the inaugural CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship title on Saturday. They are now ranked first in the nation, according to a national poll by sports site Maxpreps.
The girls claimed the first-ever CIF title at Long Beach City College, capping their undefeated season with a 5-0 victory over Redondo Beach. (The CIF approved girls' beach volleyball as a sanctioned sport starting with the 2021/22 school year and this is the first championship.)
"It is really special to be the first," Nancy Reynolds, Mira Costa's head coach for beach volleyball told MBNews. "So many amazing athletes
have paved the way for this and it's a tribute to them as well."
Mason attributed the team's victory to its cohesiveness and for team members' respect for each other. "I have girls who have won numerous tournaments at the highest
level in their age groups on the beach who weren't in the starting five
pairs for high school," she said. "That can be hard for a young athlete
and potentially create issues amongst the team. But we had none of that. They were all in as a team from day one."
Meanwhile, team members were still playing on Tuesday and Wednesday for the individual (pairs) championship finals. The duos of Erin Inskeep/Charlie Fuerbringer and Tanon Rosenthal/Savanna Lau are competing for those titles.
"The pairs should be very competitive - I'm excited to see how we do," said Reynolds. "It would be nice to see them face off in the final."
As the varsity squad wraps up its season, it is ready to say goodbye to six talented seniors* (Brooke Balue, Ameena Campbell, Carly Greskovics, Bella Healy, Erin Inskeep, and Tanon Rosenthal). But fortunately, this is a team with a deep roster of incredible talent, noted Reynolds.
"We are blessed with depth, and the experience of this first CIF
playoff will be great for the returners. They have seen what it takes
and experienced the pressure and the excitement of the final," said Reynolds. She added, "I get Charlie [Fuerbringer] and the Lau sisters [Giselle and Savanna] back. That alone would make any coach happy."
(The Mira Costa girls' varsity beach volleyball squad. Photo via Mira Costa Beach Volleyball.)
*This year's senior girls' volleyball commitments include:
Brooke Balue - University of Washington (Beach Volleyball)
Ameena Campbell - CSU Fullerton (Indoor Volleyball)
Carly Greskovics - University of Michigan (Indoor Volleyball)
Bella Healy - High Point University (Indoor Volleyball)
Erin Inskeep - Cal Poly SLO (Beach Volleyball)
Tanon Rosenthal - University of Arizona (Beach Volleyball)
Five juniors have also made volleyball commitments:
Charlie Fuerbringer - University of Wisconsin (Indoor Volleyball)
Chloe Hynes - New York University (Indoor Volleyball)
Giselle Lau - UC Berkeley (Beach Volleyball)
Giselle Lau - UC Berkeley (Beach Volleyball)
Kendal Steller - UC Davis (Indoor Volleyball)
Savanna Lau - UC Berkeley (Beach Volleyball)
