Beach Volleyball: Rio Hondo drops LBCC, Mira Costa matches

The Rio Hondo College women's beach volleyball team held the difficult task of facing two of the state top teams on Friday and suffered 5-0 losses to defending state champion Mira Costa College and state finalist Long Beach City College.

But the Roadrunners didn't go down without a fight. Against Mira Costa, the No. 5 team of Michelle Hawkins and Bree Newton battled in their opening set before falling by a marathon score of 32-30.

And vs. Long Beach, Rio Hondo's No. 1 team of Andrea Velasco and Madison Mader as well as the No. 2 duo of Sara Harding and Michelle Rosas stunned their opponents with opening-set wins. Unfortunately they couldn't pull off the upset and both fell in three.

Rio Hondo is now 6-8 overall and 0-3 in South Coast Conference play as they head into next week's matches on April 6 against Golden West and El Camino colleges.

Results from both matches below:

Mira Costa 5, Rio Hondo 0
No. 1: Chloe Tripp/Claire Kinder (MC) def. Andrea Velasco/Madison Mader (RHC) 21-10, 21-18
No. 2: Michelle Mason/Claudia Matthews (MC) def. Sara Harding/Michelle Rosas (RHC) 21-18, 21-16
No. 3: Lena Salazar/Celia MacDonald (MC) def. Natalie Magallon/Michell Chavez-Valdivia (RHC) 21-7, 21-14
No. 4: Madison Anderson/Violetli Faleumu (MC) def. Felipa Moreno/Stephanie Garcia (RHC) 21-8, 21-6
No. 5: Madison Meukow/Halie Hess (MC) def. Michelle Hawkins/Bree Newton (RHC) 32-30, 21-12

Long Beach 5, Rio Hondo 0
No. 1: Sierra Davis/Josannah Vasquez (LBCC) def. Andrea Velasco/Madison Mader (RHC) 18-2, 21-11, 15-9
No. 2: Jordan Diaz/Taty Umi (LBCC) def. Sara Harding/Michelle Rosas (RHC) 19-21, 21-17, 15-7
No. 3: Jessica Kaeka/Brooklin Mize (LBCC) def. Natalie Magallon/Michell Chavez-Valdivia (RHC) 21-10, 21-14
No. 4: Isabella Alvarez/Doris Woods (LBCC) def. Felipa Moreno/Stephanie Garcia (RHC) 21-13, 21-9
No. 5: Elsa Woods/Marian Clausen (LBCC) def. Michelle Hawkins/Bree Newton (RHC) 21-12, 21-11