Prep talk: Beach volleyball playoffs to decide Southern Section champion this week
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.
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.
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- Chicago Tribune
The best ever? Ohio State recruit Christian Teresi and Marist make case with state championship. ‘It's awesome.'
Marist's Christian Teresi wasn't going to argue with his coach. Jordan Vidovic proclaimed that the RedHawks are the best team in Illinois to ever play the sport. After they won their second straight state title, the Ohio State-bound Teresi quickly agreed. 'Of course I want to stay humble,' Teresi said. 'But I'm going to agree with him 100% on that. We went to California and beat the No. 1 team in the nation (Mira Costa). 'I feel like that was a big accomplishment for an Illinois high school. And now we won the state championship again. It's awesome.' Teresi continued his role as an awesome do-it-all player Saturday. The senior setter/right-side hitter produced 14 kills on a .619 hitting percentage to lead Marist to a 25-20, 25-20 victory over Glenbard West in the boys volleyball state championship match at Hoffman Estates. While Teresi added 15 assist and seven digs for the RedHawks (40-2), MIT recruit Nathen Toth tallied 11 kills, Jacob Finley notched 18 assists and Rorey Donnelly delivered 11 digs. Charlie Clifford led the Hilltoppers (36-6) with eight kills in a match that featured 21 ties and four lead changes. But the several times Marist needed a big play, Teresi usually provided it. 'I was telling Jacob, our setter, to keep setting me because they were not stopping me at all,' Teresi said. 'I was just going on a roll and I wanted to keep getting set. 'These are the games where I really want to stand out. There are a lot of people watching. I know we played Glenbard twice during the season, but we knew coming into this game, this was going to be a brand-new team.' It's the second straight state title in boys volleyball, third overall for the boys and third straight for Vidovic, who won in 2024 with the boys in the spring and then the girls team in the fall. Earlier in the day, Marist beat Lane Tech 25-15, 25-19 in the semifinals. Toth totaled six kills and five aces to lead the RedHawks, while Teresi chipped in with four kills and eight assists. Finley recorded eight assists and Donnelly had seven digs against Lane (35-7). Marist then put an exclamation point on a season in which the RedHawks went 30-0 against Illinois teams and dropped just one set — Friday against Lake Park in the state quarterfinals. That had Vidovic excited about placing this team at the top of the state's history list. 'There is no doubt in my mind because we went out and did it,' he said. 'Everybody else is hypothetical and we went out and played the best of the best. We went toe-to-toe with the most stacked high school volleyball teams … probably ever. 'I've been around some great Illinois teams as a player, as a spectator, as a sibling, as a coach, and I've seen some phenomenal teams, but the way the game is played right now, the speed and the way the ball is travelling, there was nothing like that back then.' Teresi closed a four-year varsity career with one more big match under his belt as a goodbye. 'I've never seen a player as compete as Christian — not at all,' Toth said. 'He can do everything. He's super athletic. He's got a wicked arm swing. I really don't know what this kid can't do. 'I don't know how you can go up there on the block and stop him.' About the only thing Saturday night that could almost stop Teresi was a question about if this year's title felt better than a year ago. It was almost like asking a parent who the favorite child is. 'I don't know … I think this year was more exciting for our team,' Teresi said. 'Well, actually I think last year was more exciting because it was our first one. 'But this was better because of us winning last year.'
Los Angeles Times
16 hours ago
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St. John Bosco wins Division I regional baseball title with a shutout
On the day he turned 17, Jack Champlin gave himself his own best birthday present, one he got to share with his teammates. The junior right-hander needed 27 pitches to retire all seven batters he faced to wrap up St. John Bosch's 4-0 shutout of Patrick Henry in the Southern California Regional Division I championship game. 'I'm going to dinner with my family and my girlfriend,' he said when asked what he would do to celebrate. 'I'm not sure where yet, but there are a lot of good places around here and we'll make a decision.' Champlin pitched in all eight playoff games for the Braves, picking up two wins and five saves with zero runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings. 'I don't really feel the pressure… as a closer you need to have confidence in your stuff and I'm just happy to be put in that position,' said Champlin, who fielded a grounder back to the mound and underhanded a toss to first base for the final out of the season. 'We knew our starter [Brayden Krakowski] had pitched earlier in the week and only had 14 outs remaining, so the gameplan was for me to come in after that or before if necessary. As it turned out I was able to finish each playoff game with the ball in my hand every single time.' Krakowksi allowed three hits and got all the support he needed in the first inning, as James Clark led off the bottom half with a triple and scored on a single by Noah Everly. Miles Clark added a two-out RBI single. In the next inning St. John Bosco doubled its lead when James Clark hit an RBI double and later scored on an infield single by Jaden Jackson. St. John Bosco beat eighth-seeded San Diego St. Augustine 2-1 in the first round and No. 5 Villa Park 7-4 in the semifinals in a rematch of the Braves' 4-3 nine-inning triumph in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals. Patrick Henry had lost 3-0 to Granite Hills in the San Diego Section Open Division final but after back-to-back victories over two of the best Southern Section teams in Santa Margarita and Crespi, the Patriots (23-11-2) came to Bellflower confident they could upset the No. 1-ranked team in California. It did not happen. Instead, the Braves notched their 19th straight win, 30th in 34 games and capped an historic campaign, which included a 3-2 walk-off victory over Santa Margarita to capture the program's first section crown May 30 after losing to Beckman 2-1 in eight innings in the CIF-SS Division 3 title game last season. 'We've proven ourselves,' Champlin said in the midst of a celebration on the same field where he and his returning teammates rallied to defeat Bakersfield Christian 5-4 and claim the Division III regional championship last June. Champlin took the hill with one out in the top of the seventh inning in last year's regional final, got the final two outs, and was credited with the win when the Braves scored the game-ending run on a balk in the bottom frame. Saturday's achievement was even sweeter because it was accomplished at the highest level and was a testament to second-year coach Andy Rojo, who held the first-place plaque high and declared 'We won the west!' as his players surrounded him. 'It'll take a lot for any team to match what we've done winning by three titles in one year—the Trinity League championship, the Southern Section Division 1 championship and the regional Division I championship,' said Rojo who got his squad to the top of the mountain despite losing 12 players to graduation—including pitcher Anthony Cosme (Cal Poly Pomona), center fielder Julian Villasenor (Washington State) and first baseman Zach Woodson (Pepperdine). 'Tomorrow will be two months since we lost a game (the Braves last suffered defeat on April 8 against Santa Margarita). I couldn't be more proud.'
Miami Herald
4 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.
