Beach Volleyball: Mader/Velasco advance to regionals, take 4th at SCC

Rio Hondo College's No. 1 duo team of freshmen Madison Mader and Andrea Velasco have earned a spot in the Southern California Regional Pairs Championships thanks to their fourth-place showing at the South Coast Conference tournament on Friday in Long Beach.

Mader and Velasco, seeded second overall for the tourney, picked up wins over No. 18 Mariah Clausen/Doris Woods of Long Beach (16-21, 21-18, 15-11) and No. 10 Jaylin Motley/Sarah Dyer of El Camino College (21-17, 21-15) to advance to the SCC semifinals. But they were finally stopped in the semis and suffered a 21-14, 21-19 loss to No. 6 seed Phina Leilua/Aiko Waters from El Camino.

In the consolation bracket, Mader and Velasco faced No. 1 overall seed Sierra Davis/Josannah Vazquez of Long Beach and also were defeated by scores of 21-10, 21-17.

The No. 16 Rio Hondo duo of Felipa Moreno and Stephanie Garcia defeated No. 17 Melissa Euyoque/Kiana Takahashi of El Camino 21-9, 17-21, 15-10 in an opening-round match but fell in the second round to No. 1 Davis/Vazquez of Long Beach 21-15, 21-12.

Also picking up a win for the Roadrunners were No. 20 Michelle Hawkins and Bree Newton as they beat No. 13 Natasha Dutko/Jossie Tomita from El Camino 23-21, 20-22, 15-8. But their season came to an end with an 18-21, 21-11, 15-10 loss to No. 4 Malia Carr/ Shaianne Palos of Mt. SAC in the next round.

Coming up short in their first-round matches were No. 7 Sara Harding and Michelle Rosas who lost to the No. 10-seeded team of Motley/Dyer of El Camino (22-20, 21-15) while No. 11 Natalie Magallon and Michell Chavez-Valdivia fell to the No. 6 squad of Leilua/Waters from El Camino (21-7, 19-21, 15-10).

The 2018 Southern California Regionals Pairs Championships are set for May 4 at a location to be determined.