The West Valley beach volleyball team opened Coast Conference competition with a 5-0 sweep of Foothill and then fell 3-2 to Gavilan in a back-and-forth battle at the beach in Santa Cruz Friday. The match against Gavilan came down to a thrilling three-setter in the 3's between WVC's Kayla Keller and Hannah Reynoso and Gavilan's Flo Tukuaoga and Katelyn Viray. Keller/Reynoso took the first set 22-20, but Tukuaoga/Viray stormed back to win set two 21-16 and the deciding third set 15-11. Viking 1's Mapuhola Sekona and Kaylin Henderson dropped set one of their match with Katia Dizon and Sarah Weiby 21-15 and then overwhelmed the Ram pair 21-3 in the second and 15-10 in the third to remain undefeated against community college foes this year. WVC 4's Claire Danna and Gabriela Valencia also stayed perfect on the season with a 12-21, 21-18, 15-12 win over Evelyn Clonts and Melissa Zanotto. Gavilan's Keona Stopper/Mikeila Banda held off Katrina Hochmuth/Rene Wash 21-19, 22-20 in the 2's and Lex Chavarria/Noel Chavarria outpointed WVC's Lizhya Shoomoonof/Elizabeth McGrath 21-15, 21-16 in the 5's. In the early match against Foothill, Viking wins went to: 1's Sekona/Henderson (21-7, 21-10), 2's Hochmuth/Wash (21-14, 15-21, 15-13), 3's Keller/Reynoso (21-14, 21-7), 4's Danna/Valencia (21-14, 21-10) and 5's Shoomoonof/McGrath (18-21, 21-15, 15-12). Emily Paxton and Angelica Reyna fell in the exhibition 6's 19-21, 21-11, 13-15. West Valley (3-6, 1-1 Coast) hosts Fresno City (4-1, 0-0) and College of San Mateo (0-2, 0-0) Friday (3/22) in a Coast dual. First serve is 1:00pm.
