Boys Beach Volleyball becomes official Mira Costa sport

Diego Marcucci
Staff Writer

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District approved Boys Beach Volleyball as an official Mira Costa sport at the September 3 board meeting after the team has officially been playing in the IBVL this season.

The team consist mostly of the Costa indoor volleyball players. The league plays over the span of 5 weeks starting August 23 and ending September 27, with each match required to be played in pairs of two on each side.

“It was very exciting to get approved,” Head Coach Scott Davenport said. “Everyone was happy to be able to represent the school name and uphold the strong Costa volleyball tradition.”

The IBVL is made up of five different divisions, with the Bay Division including Costa, Redondo Union High School, Palos Verdes High School, Palisades Charter High School, and Windward High School.

“This sport is relatively new so the league wasn’t very strong this year,” Senior Chris Caskey said. “There were still good teams, like PV and Redondo,that were able to rival us.”

Playoffs are set to begin on October 9, and the championship will be played on October 11. Mira Costa, Redondo, and Palos Verdes are all guaranteed to make playoffs.

“Every game on the sand can go either way so we need to keep practicing hard,” Caskey said. “We need to be able to maintain a positive mental attitude.”

Costa played Palisades Charter and Redondo on September 27, losing to Redondo but beating Palisades. This finalized their record at 7-1 in Bay Division and overall 7-3, earning them the league title.

“It felt really good to win the best league for volleyball this weekend,” junior Roy McFarland said. “It gave us a lot of confidence and I think that will help us when going into CIF.”

According to Caskey, the approval of the team as an official sport will help them grow and become a stronger team due to the fact that more kids will be able to join and have the chance to participate in it.

“Moving forward, we’d like to divide the group into Varsity, JV, and Frosh teams,” Davenport said. “This will give us more participation in competition play. We hope that participation numbers increase each year, and we’d like to continue to improve upon this year’s results at all levels.”