Local volleyball standout Katie Spieler won her fourth beach tournament of the summer, taking the California Beach Volleyball Association Ocean Beach Open with partner Delaney Knudsen on Saturday in San Diego.
Katie Spieler has enjoyed a good summer on the beach.
Spieler-Knudsen defeated Esther Kim and Leah Dekok in the final. The title was their second as a team (they won the Santa Cruz Open in June) and it came a day after finishing 17th at the AVP Manhattan Beach Open.
Spieler’s other open tournament wins this summer came in Santa Barbara and Zuma Beach with her cousin Torrey Van Winden, a high school senior who is headed to UCLA. Knudsen last week won the Marine Street Open in Manhattan Beach with Lilla Frederick.
Spieler, a Dos Pueblos alum, and Knudsen both play collegiate beach volleyball, Spieler at the University of Hawai’I and Knudsen at Pepperdine.
Also at Marine Street, the local team of Carly Wopat and Sammie Brown finished third and earned their “AAA” ratings. The DP alums played together at Ocean Beach and took ninth. Brown played beach volleyball at Hawai’i after a four-year indoor career at Notre Dame. Wopat was a three-year All-American at Stanford. She played professionally in France last year and is playing this coming season in Turkey.
Wopat’s younger brother, Eli, placed third with former DP teammate Mark Raphael in the 18-under division at a CBVA Youth Tournament in Huntington Beach on Saturday.
Santa Barbara’s Matthew Suh and Gabriel Dyer won the 12-under division title at Huntington Beach. Local player Keara Rutz and partner Sarah Waters finished fifth in the girls 14-under division.
