Ventura College's No. 1 beach volleyball duo of Raphaella Rosales and Vanessa Ihrke became just the fifth Pirate beach volleyball team to reach the state tournament Friday with a pair of wins at the CCCAA Southern California Regional pairs tournament at Irvine Valley College. They are the first to advance under the current format of regional play before state. The duo will be SoCal's No. 6-seeded pair heading into the CCCAA State Pairs Championships on Friday May 10 at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center outside of San Diego.
Rosales and Ihrke, who entered the day as the No. 10 seed in the bracket, started the day with a victory over the No. 23 seed from Mira Costa College, 21-19, 18-21, 15-11, before handling the No. 7 seeded team from San Diego Mesa, 23-21, 15-21, 15-8. The Pirate duo then fall in another three-set marathon to the No. 18-seeded team from Irvine Valley, 18-21, 21-10, 15-13. Despite their quarterfinal loss, the pair qualifies for the State Championships.
Meanwhile, the pair of Brooklyn Wallet and Faith Mackie came close to a state berth, narrowly falling in their third match of the day. The team came into the bracket as the No. 6-ranked team, and were upset in the opener 21-15, 21-16 by the No. 25-seeded team from College oft the Desert. Wallet and Mackie came back to win an elimination match over the No. 24 seeds from Santa Ana, 21-14, 21-10, before falling in a match to go to state, 22-20, 15-21, 17-15 to the No. 17 team from San Diego City College.
Ventura's Morgan Gallagher and Jordan Neria also played in the regionals on Friday, falling twice to have their season come to an end.
Rosales and Ihrke join a select few among Pirate beach volleyball players. They become the fifth VC pair to qualify for the state championships. Other VC state qualifiers included Tori Hiott and Sarah Veloz in 2016, and four groups in 2017 including Sariah Flores and Armonee Hunter, Janessa Simental and Madison Wright, Hiott and Paris Dosch, and Mikayla Spears and Brianna Finch. Flores and Hunter advanced to the state quarterfinals while Simental and Wright made it to the round of 16 in state play.
Rosales and Ihrke are the first Pirate team to advance to state under the current pairs post-season format which includes a round of regional play. The current format began in 2018.
The CCCAA State Championships begin Friday May 10 in Chuvla Vista.
R. Rosales/V. Ihrke (VC)
def. Lorax/Evans (MCC): 21-19, 18-21, 15-11
def. Ferguson/Grimm (SDM): 23-21, 15-21, 15-8
loss to Unke/Griego (IVC): 18-21, 21-10, 15-13 (Quarterfinals)
*Qualified for State as the No. 6-seed from SoCal
B. Wallet/F. Mackie (VC)
loss to Lyneis/Smith (Desert): 21-15, 21-16
def. Mumford/Pooee (Santa Ana): 21-14, 21-10
*match to advance to State*
loss to Baron/Schaal (SD City): 22-20, 15-21, 17-15
M. Gallagher/J. Neria (VC)
loss to Berneker/Zavala (CYP): 21-14, 21-10
loss to Montgomery/Eckhardt (SMC): 21-17, 21-14