logo
Prep talk: Beach volleyball playoffs to decide Southern Section champion this week

Prep talk: Beach volleyball playoffs to decide Southern Section champion this week

Yahoo29-04-2025

Mira Costa players celebrate after defeating Redondo Union for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 girls' beach volleyball title at Long Beach City College last year. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Can any team defeat No. 1 Mira Costa in girls' beach volleyball?
We'll find out this week as the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals will be held in Southern Section Division 1.
Edison will take the first chance against Mira Costa in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. The other matchups have Santa Margarita facing Los Alamitos, Redondo Union taking on San Marcos and San Juan Hills playing JSerra.
Redondo Union has the only win against Mira Costa this season.
Advertisement
The championships will be Saturday at Long Beach City College.
The City Section will hold its beach championships on Friday at Santa Monica State Beach. Venice is seeded No. 1 in the 16-team field.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Miami Edison's Rakyia Louis is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Player of the Year
Miami Edison's Rakyia Louis is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Player of the Year

Miami Herald

time2 days ago

  • Miami Herald

Miami Edison's Rakyia Louis is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Player of the Year

Rakyia Louis knew she had enough time. Miami Edison's junior starting quarterback had two minutes left in a tie game in the state championship, and an array of talented receivers she knew she could count on. 'We had a game-winning drive this season that took 40 seconds,' Louis said. 'We had two minutes left when we started this drive, so I knew there was no way we were going to overtime.' Louis marched her team past midfield and then executed one of the state's most memorable state title-clinching moments when she fired a Hail Mary touchdown pass to teammate Poetry Auguste as time expired to lift Edison to its first ever state championship. The play, the drive and the accomplishment are some of the main reasons that Louis is this year's Miami Herald Flag Football Player of the Year for Miami-Dade County. Louis did more than just throw one clutch pass. She spent the entire season at the heart of Edison's march to a 19-1 season as one of the most prolific scoring teams in the state. Louis threw for 4,705 passing yards and threw 78 touchdown passes. The journey took her and the Red Raiders to Tampa where they made their sixth appearance at the state final four. But this time, things ended differently than they had in the past. Louis and her teammates are still a predominantly young team, which graduated only four seniors. They took pride in being the first to bring home a state championship for Edison, which has been a regular at state since 2017 under longtime coach Vince Hall, but hadn't experienced a breakthrough until this season. 'It took a while to hit me. All I knew is we had to win the game,' Louis said.

Miami Edison's Vince Hall is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Coach of the Year
Miami Edison's Vince Hall is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Coach of the Year

Miami Herald

time2 days ago

  • Miami Herald

Miami Edison's Vince Hall is the Miami-Dade Flag Football Coach of the Year

Miami Edison's flag football team had come close so many times in recent years to winning a state championship. It was only fitting that the finish was worth the wait for Red Raiders and their longtime coach Vince Hall. After five previous trips to state ended with losses in either the state semifinals or finals, Edison finally cleared the remaining hurdle. And the Red Raiders did it in style with a Hail Mary touchdown pass with no time remaining to secure a 26-20 victory in the final over Wildwood. Hall has seen the rise of the program, which has become a state title contender for nearly a decade to finally being a champion. And so, once again, Hall is the Miami Herald's Flag Football Coach of the Year. The triumphant moment came when Miami Herald Player of the Year RaKiya Louis heaved a pass to the end zone to Miami Herald first team selection Poetry Auguste, who was standing all alone and caught it for the winning score. 'As soon as Rakyia let it go, I knew it was six points,' Hall said after that game. Hall led Edison to a 19-1 record with its only loss coming during the regular season against crosstown rival Homestead. The Red Raiders stormed through the playoffs and scored two nail-biting wins at the state final four including a 21-14 semifinal win over Tallahassee Florida High. Hall had previously led Edison to state in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023, including state runner-up finishes in the first two of those seasons. Edison figures to have a strong chance to repeat its success next season as it is set to return six freshman on its roster. 'It's a very well-deserved championship. We finally got one and Coach (Hall) finally got one under his belt,' Louis said.

Prep Rally: St. John Bosco was the surprise of the baseball season
Prep Rally: St. John Bosco was the surprise of the baseball season

Los Angeles Times

time4 days ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Prep Rally: St. John Bosco was the surprise of the baseball season

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. What a weekend it was for championships in baseball and softball. Going into the 2025 baseball season, St. John Bosco was hardly on anyone's mind as a potential Southern Section Division 1 champion. It was going to be the super team, Corona, or last season's runner-up Huntington Beach. But coach Andy Rojo built the most consistent team of all, going 27-4, eliminating Corona 2-0 in the semifinals, then enduring nine innings to defeat Santa Margarita 3-2 on a walk-off hit by Miles Clark in the Division 1 final. There were so many big moments by big-time players in the Division 1 final. Few were more impressive than St. John Bosco closer Jack Champlin, who saved the Braves' win over Corona and then threw four scoreless innings against Santa Margarita with key strikeouts in moments of pressure. He may become a starting pitcher next season, but he's got a future as a closer because of his ability to thrive under pressure and his complete confidence in being able to do the job. The Division 2 final saw West Ranch defeat Mater Dei 2-1 behind pitcher Hunter Manning. Here's the report. Manning finished 10-0 on the mound and is headed to UC Irvine. The drought is over for Granada Hills softball. After losing heartbreaking championship games to Carson the last two seasons, the Highlanders beat the Colts in the City Section Open Division final 11-2. Here's the report. Norco ended the softball season No. 1 in Southern California after a 3-0 win in the Southern Section Division 1 final over El Modena behind pitcher Coral Williams, who threw a one-hitter. Here's the report. The Southern California regional playoffs for baseball and softball begin Tuesday, continue Thursday and end Saturday. Here's the baseball pairings. Here's the softball pairings. Led by a talented group of freshmen athletes, Servite won the state championship in boys track and field in Clovis on Saturday. Long Beach Wilson won the girls title. There were terrific individual performances, from Jack Stadlman of Temecula Valley winning the 400 meters to Leo Francis of Santa Margarita going 25-feet plus to win the long jump. Jayden Rendon of Carson wion the 300 hurdles. Here are the complete results. Here's the report from Clovis on the finals. Here's a closer look at Servite's Fab Four. Jaden Soong, a freshman golfer at St. Francis, thrives under pressure. 'I will say I like pressure,' he said. Twice in the last two weeks, he's won playoffs to keep his season going. But the story of his first playoff win is comedy at its best. He had left the Temecula Creek golf course at the individual championships after concluding he had failed to qualify for the SCGA regionals and had stopped at Jack in the Box while headed home. Then he got a phone call from a friend: 'Hey dude, we're in a playoff.' He was 17 minutes away and needed to be back at the course in 10 minutes. 'We hauled it,' he said. Thankfully, there were no police cars in the vicinity as he was driven back to the course. The playoff had started when he arrived. Players were in the fairway. He had no time to change into his golf shoes, so he played in his Nike Air Force shoes. He got a par on the first hole, then a birdie to win the playoff and advance. Last weekend, he won another playoff to reach the state championships Tuesday at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach. He's ready for anything. Brady McHenry of Buena won the SCGA Southern California regional championship with a playoff win to be the No. 1 qualifier for the state championships Tuesday at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach. Charlie Woods, son of Tiger Woods, won his first juniors tournament. Here's the report. The Bradford family in Manhattan Beach loves volleyball and everyone is tall. Here's a look at their love for volleyball and big shoes. Mira Costa won the first state Division 1 championship with a 25-14, 25-16, 25-21 win over San Jose Archbishop Mitty. Mater Dei defeated Buchanan 3-1 to win Division 2. Sage Hill won Division 3 with a 3-0 win over International. Here's the Daily Pilot report on Mira Costa winning against Huntington Beach the previous week. With major league baseball seeking to increase Black player participation, St. John Bosco has five Black players starting on its championship team. Here's a report. Lots of SoCal players are participating in the NCAA baseball playoffs. Here's a look. Brentwood sophomore to be Shaelen Sheppard has been selected to be on the U16 USA Basketball national team. . . . Austin Maziasz, a standout basketball player at Westlake, has committed to Johns Hopkins. . . . April Schilling is the new girls basketball coach at Oak Park. . . . Capistrano Valley has begun building a new $21.5 million football stadium that is supposed to be completed by the spring of 2026. . . . Chris Allen has resigned as baseball coach at Charter Oak. . . . The JSerra doubles team of Brady Schaefgen and Riley Anson won the Southern Section championship. Freshman Andrew Johnson from Palos Verdes won the singles title. . . . Roy Walker Jr., an assistant basketball coach at Westchester, has been hired as Taft's new basketball coach. . . . Dee Pinkard is the new girls' basketball coach at St. Bonaventure. . . . Mark Bowman, the top tight end in California if not America, has committed to USC. He was supposed to be a junior this coming season at Mater Dei but changed his classification to the class of 2026. Irvine University won the state Division 1 tennis championship. Griffin Canning is the best pitcher in the history of Santa Margarita. He led the Eagles to the 2014 Southern Section Division 1 championship, went on to star at UCLA and became a starting pitcher for the Angels. But this season he's enjoying a breakthrough pitching for the New York Mets. He's 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA. Here's a story from 2014 on how Canning pitched Santa Margarita to the Division 1 title. Here's a story from 2015 on the 'Griffin Canning rule' in the Trinity League. From a story looking at a survey of parents whether their kids will become pro athletes. From the Washington Post, a story on how a gymnast ended up getting a track and field scholarship. From the Los Angeles Times, a story on three L.A. students who earned college scholarships by caddying. From Spectrum News1, a story on USA volleyball using the 2028 Olympic Games to boost the sport. From the Los Angeles Times, a look at how the state track championship was affected by the participation of a transgender athlete.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store