San Diego Mesa's Gomez/Jager overcome heat and Santa Barbara's Medina/Rossi for beach pairs title
SARATOGA - The temperature was in the low 90’s and it was, fittingly, the deciding third set of the 2024 3C2A Beach Volleyball Pairs Championship at the West Valley College Beach Volleyball Complex. The final whistle blew and San Diego Mesa’s Kaylin Jager and Myah Gomez had pulled off an 18-21, 21-18, 15-8 reverse-sweep title win over Santa Barbara City College’s Olivia Medina and Ashley Rossi.
When the whistle sounded after a kill from Jager, both players felt a similar emotion.
“Relief,” said Gomez.
“Relief and shock” added Jager.
Jager, a sophomore headed to UC Riverside to play indoor, was shaking her head afterward as she realized she was adding a beach pairs title to the 2023 indoor she and her Olympian teammates captured in the fall.
“To make it and win it again hasn’t sunk in yet,” the 2023 indoor state tourney MVP said. “It’s been a long season, and it feels great to go out on top twice.”
And, it was a long two-day tournament for both pairs. Starting with Thursday’s team championship, won by Feather River, the three-day tourney was played in the three hottest days in Saratoga in 2024. It is often said the beach pairs tournament is among the most grueling in the 3C2A and pool play on Friday and bracket play Saturday were, indeed, a battle of attrition.
The entire pairs tournament began Friday, improbably and prophetically, with Jager and Gomez straight-setting Medina and Rossi 21-12, 21-17. The win avenged an April 30 loss to the SBCC pair. Neither Jager/Gomez or Medina/Rossi lost another set the rest of day one to advance to bracket play Saturday, although the playing conditions were a bit disconcerting to Jager.
“We were a little psyched out by how hot and windy it was the first morning,” she said. “But we were fine once we got acclimated.”
Medina and Rossi opened Saturday morning with a methodical 21-13, 21-12 sweep of Ventura’s Autumn Rojelio and Bryce Swain while Jager and Gomez dispatched fellow Olympians Emily Eltrich and Victoria Goff 21-12, 22-20.
As the northern California heat edged past 80, Jager and Gomez opened the quarterfinal round by holding off Irvine Valley’s Tessa Morocco and Kenzie Dews 21-18, 21-17. Medina and Rossi had a somewhat easier time with a 21-10, 21-16 sweep of Fresno City’s Malia Edwardson and Ashlan VanGronigen.
The thermometer read 94 as Jager and Gomez took the court for their semifinal battle with Moorpark’s Larissa Dakoske and Grace Hazelton while Medina and Rossi squared off against Feather River’s Abby Cogburn and Franny Martins, fresh off their Thursday team championship. Both matches went their three-set distance.
Medina/Rossi took the first semifinal set 21-15, but dropped a heartbreaking 21-19 second set to the Golden Eagle pair. A closer-than-the-final-score-indicated 15-10 third-set win sent the Santa Barbara City pair to the finals.
One court over, the San Diego Mesa and Moorpark tandems were staging a stirring skirmish. Jager and Gomez took a 21-19 first set, but the Raiders’ Larissa Dakoske and Grace Hazelton took the second set 21-10 over a visibly exhausted Olympian pair. Set three was epic, ending in a 15-12 Jager/Gomez win on a Gomez tape-crawler at the end.
The Mesa pair was drained heading into the final.
“We focused on staying hydrated before the final,” Gomez said. “We knew what we wanted and weren’t going home without it.”
The championship match opened with a well-played 21-18 win by Medina and Rossi, who played some of the best defense in the tournament when it mattered most. A mirror-image 21-18 second-set win by Jager and Gomez, who overcame a mid-match medical timeout, set up a state-championship-deciding third set.
It may be a disservice to Medina and Rossi to say set three was all Mesa, but the Olympians led from start to finish. Their 15-8 win cemented Mesa’s and Head Coach Kim Lester’s first-ever pairs championship.
Jager and Gomez used a powerful offense to offset Medina and Rossi’s defense.
“We’re both big swingers,” Jager said. “We’re scrappy and set each other up well at the net.”
Jager heads to UCR next year but was in tears when talking about her freshman partner. “Myah is one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met. She has overcome so much in her life and has continued to go all out every day. She’s the best partner I could ever have had.”
Countered Gomez about Jager, “She’s never going to leave my mind. Whenever I look at sand, I’ll think of her.”
(Matt Folsom, West Valley Athletics)