The Dos Pueblos duo of Portia Sherman and Chloe Hoffman capped an incredible high school beach volleyball partnership on Wednesday by winning the South Coast Pairs Championship at West Beach.
Sherman/Hoffman defeated the Santa Ynez team of Jayda Henry and Gianna Pecile in the final, 21-9, 21-14, and completed an undefeated season on the sand.
“They are undefeated for three straight years,” said DP coach Mike Fitzgerald. “They have won three straight pairs championships. They are future hall of famers, and I am lucky to be a small part of their careers.”
The season’s title comes in the first year that girls beach volleyball is a sanctioned CIF sport. The previous titles were under the auspices of the Interscholastic Beach Volleyball Association, a partner of the American Amateur Union. There were no CIF playoffs in the first season.
Sherman recently signed an offer to play beach volleyball at Cal. Hoffman, a junior, has made a verbal commitment to Stanford for the sport.
In other DP results, Erin Curtis and Natali Flint finished third in the gold division. Lucy Speier and Malia Brofferio placed fifth in the silver Division. Ella Benson and Sabrina Valerjev finished third in the bronze division and Eliana Frankenfield and Layla McQuiggan took fourth.
Wednesday’s competition included pairs from the four Channel League schools (Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Santa Ynez) and four from West Ventura County (Ventura, Buena, Oxnard and Rio Mesa). They played in a double-elimination bracket format.
Santa Ynez coach Melissa Rogers was pleased how Henry and Pecile raised the level of their game as the season wore on.
“They really stepped up their game over the last couple of weeks, leaving no question that they are one of the area’s top teams,” she said. Their only losses in the tournament were to the team of Portia Sherman and Chloe Hoffman. Portia and Chloe are very talented, Division 1 commits with great chemistry on the court. They played next-level volleyball in the final match.
“I told Jayda and Gianna to play aggressive, go for it to keep them out of system as much as possible, and to just have some fun,” Rogers added. “I am super proud of the girls for putting Santa Ynez on the map for beach volleyball. I think that they earned some much deserved respect this season.”