(Walnut, CA) "Mt. SAC Beach" was alive with activity on the opening day of the 2023 Beach Volleyball season, with teams from Riverside City College and Bakersfield taking on the Mounties on a beautiful sunny day, Friday (February 3).
In what will be the last season at the temporary beach courts before the new six-court complex opens later this year, Mt. SAC opened the season in style with double sweeps over RCC and Bakersfield, 5-0, 5-0.
In nine of the 10 matches against both teams, the Mt. SAC pairs swept their matches, 2-0, to give the Mt. SAC team a 2-0 start to the season.
"I'm really proud of our team for starting out the season with two wins," Mt. SAC Beach Volleyball coach Danielle Diaz said. "The girls were coachable and followed the game plan and were able to execute. "We know that we need to continue to stay focused and improve each week as our competition will continue to get higher.
"We have a good amount of sophomores returning with a year of beach experience under their belt and I know they are eager to accomplish some big things this season."
In what started out as a chilly morning in the opening match against RCC, all five Mt. SAC pairs swept their opponents.
In the best three out of five, the Mounties won the first three matches, as the No. 1's (Bristol Christelman/Allison Whiteman), No. 5's (Keilana Lim/Savanna Corrales and the No. 4's (Kylie Rhodes/Liz Ortiz) all won two sets each to give Mt. SAC a 3-0 lead and victory before the final two matches took the court.
The No. 2's (Riley DeGroot/Paige Gutowski) and No. 3's (JJ Quarrels/Riannel Arevalo) completed the 5-0 sweep over the Tigers.
In the second match of the day, RCC came back with a 3-2 victory over Bakersfield.
The Mounties finished off the afternoon with another 5-0 sweep against Bakersfield as four of the five pairs won, 2-0.
The Mounties again ended the match with a 3-0 start, as the No. 1's (Christelman/Whiteman), No. 5's (Lim/Corrales) and No. 4's (Rhodes/Ortiz) all won. The Mounties No. 1's and No. 5's both swept their opponents in two sets, while the No. 3's won two of three to give Mt. SAC the win.
Both the 2's and 3's also swept the Renegades two straight sets for the 5-0 team win.
The Mounties continue non-conference action with a match against host Orange Coast College (2-0) Friday (Feb. 10) at Huntington Beach at 10:00 am.
