OCEANSIDE — Palomar and Mt. San Jacinto (MSJC) beach volleyball teams clashed on March 20 on the courts of MiraCosta College, leaving everything on the sand.
This was a rematch from March 6 at MSJC in which the Comets were narrowly defeated 3-2.
Collegiate beach volleyball is a best-of-five match featuring two-player teams (duos) from each school competing against an opposing duo. There are 10 players on each squad, ensuring that each duo plays once per match.
Duo 1: Caden Pinto (#8) and Dovie Daniels (#10)
Comets Pinto and Daniels opened the match strong, going point-for-point in Set 1. Palomar led 12-9, but after a time-out, MSJC’s duo slowly began to wear down the Comet defense.
Daniels’ aggressive blocking and Pinto’s agility put the Comets up 18-17, but MSJC pulled ahead in the final plays to take a 22-20 victory.
Pinto and Daniels fought to stay even in Set 2, but after reaching a score of 7-7, MSJC regained its momentum from the first set and went on to win 21-12.
Duo 2: Kiana Merrill (#3) and Annie Cummings (#7)
Comet sophomore Merrill and freshman Cummings faced a powerful MSJC duo in the second game, losing 12-21 and 11-21 in straight sets, putting Palomar at a 0-2 disadvantage.
Duo 3: Emma Bambe (#12) and Reese Maffitt (#13)
Palomar team captain Bambe and her teammate Maffitt took charge in the third game.
In a recent Telescope article, Head Coach Karl Seiler described the duo as “the team to keep your eye on this season.”
The combined efforts of Bambe and Maffitt led to the first match point for Palomar. Both ladies were strong on offense and defense, and their choreographed teamwork easily earned them back-to-back set wins with scores of 21-17 and 21-11.
Duo 4: Grayson Grein (#1) and Denise Garcia (#16)
Palomar freshmen duo Grein and Garcia teamed up for the fourth game, but their opponents’ defense was insurmountable and the Comets’ spikes could not penetrate it. The Eagles won 21-14 in Set 1 and 21-13 in Set 2 to put their match lead at 3-1.
Duo 5: Charlie McLaughlin (#5) and Skylar Zetmeir (#11)
Although MSJC won overall after its third victory, all duos must play, and Comets’ duo McLaughlin and Zetmeir ended the match on a high note by winning the final game in two sets. The set scores were 21-15 and 21-17.
Palomar also played Grossmont College later that day but the Comets were swept 5-0.
The Comets will return to MiraCosta’s courts at 9 a.m. on March 27. They will play two conference rivals: MiraCosta and San Diego City.