East Beach Volleyball Club’s 16-under team went 3-0 in pool play in the first Southern California Volleyball Association boys tournament of the summer season.
East Beach was the 15th seed out of 46 teams entered. It defeated Beach Cities 15s (25-15, 25-12), Beach Bones 16s (25-11, 25-11) and Riptides 16-Blue (25-16, 27-25)
Coach Dillan Bennett praised the play of Jackson Wopat, Andrew Kenyon and Cameron Fry.
“Jackson is a big boy, he reaches over the net farther than most 16 year olds in his division, which gives us a huge defensive advantage on most teams,” Bennett said. “Not only can he block, but he can hit very well and play decent defense for a kid his size.”
Wopat had 18 kills on 25 attempts, as well as 13 digs and 3 blocks.
Kenyon had 17 kills on 30 attempts, 24 digs, and 3 aces.
Fry, in his first club tournament, contributed with 12 kills and 5 blocks.
“This was a good tournament to see what we have as far as personnel goes,” Bennett. “It was also a good indicator as to how well conditioned we are. As I told the guys, playing in matches during the high school season is much easier than playing in a tournament all day. We have to get back into tournament shape and tweak a few things with our offense. Besides that, I see this team doing very good things this season.”
