LA JOLLA — The rivalry between Santa Fe Christian and La Jolla Country Day was renewed on Wednesday, with the Coastal League beach volleyball championship at stake.
The Torreys were dominant on their home sand, winning all five matches against the Eagles.
“I feel that we’ve worked really hard all season, and we’re right where we want to be going into playoffs,” LJCD coach Lynne Galli said. “I expected my girls to perform well, and I was happy that they did.”
Four matches were completed in straight sets. The other, a match between Country Day’s Ria Loomba and Masha Goutnova and Santa Fe Christian’s Faith Kim and Kailey Phillips, went three sets.
The Torreys senior pair lost the first set, 21-18. In the second set, Loomba and Goutnova went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-6 lead, en route to taking the set, 21-14, to force a decisive third set.
Because the Torreys’ No. 1 and No. 3 pairs had already won, the third set would clinch the Coastal League title.
The Eagles (9-4, 6-1 Coastal League) took the first two points of the third set before Loomba and Goutnova scored the next five points to keep the momentum on the Torreys’ side. LJCD’s lead eventually grew to 10-5, leading to a 15-6 third-set win. The Torreys improved to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in league play.
“(Loomba and Goutnova) are two seniors that have a lot of experience and a great volleyball IQ, so even if they have a slow start, they know how to make adjustments,” Galli said. “I’ve told them, when you work hard and have to really dig deep to win a match, it just means more and sweeter.”
The Torreys’ top pair, Charlotte Jansen and Calin Schneider, beat Angela Zhou and Olivia Stonebanks, 21-16, 21-12.
Among the No. 3 pairs, La Jolla Country Day’s Gray McKee and Tatum Epstein defeated Santa Fe Christian’s Violet Briscoe and Haidyn Lorenzen, 21-9, 21-14.
The Torreys’ Jane Martin and Regan Schneider defeated the Eagles’ Blair Gardiner and Hazel Gilmer, 22-20, 21-12 in the No. 2 pairs.
“We were like, ‘First set’s done.’ That’s what she told me,” said Regan Schneider, who found the back corner to win the first set. “I was like, ‘One more. Let’s get it in two.’ The pressure was off because we knew we had already won the dual for today. So, we were like, ‘Take it point by point and do our best.’”
