Witherby, Okazaki capture AVP Junior National title

After dropping the first set, the Cal Poly and UCLA beach volleyball commits rally to win the 18U Gold Division girls' final at Hermosa Beach

When Summer Witherby and Adelina Okazaki lost the first set of their 18U Gold Division Championship matchup Tuesday, it wasn’t the first time the pairing had faced adversity at the AVP Junior National Championships.

After receiving a first-round bye in the beach volleyball tournament, the top-seeded girls’ team dropped its first set to the 33rd-seeded team Tuesday before picking up the next two sets.

“I feel like we stayed steady mentally,” said Okazaki, who is committed to play beach volleyball at UCLA next year out of Point Loma High in San Diego. “We’ve been here before. We know what to do, just play our game, focus on our side, and it really came together for each other.”

Witherby and Okazaki stood tall to win the 18U Gold Bracket at Hermosa Beach by a 15-21, 21-15, 15-12 score over Bailey Higgins and Thais Treumann, the No. 2 seed out of Tampa, Florida.

“I felt like we just had to come together and make sure we support each other and just make sure we both are focused on the sideout because I feel like that’s what we were struggling with the most,” said Witherby, who is committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for beach volleyball.

Higgins and Treumann held an early lead in the second set before Witherby and Okazaki took over.

Witherby, who attended Edison High in Huntington Beach, hit a roll shot over Higgins’ block and followed with an ace to build a 12-9 lead.

They captured the second set by the same score by which they lost the opening set.

Jake Gibb, Witherby and Okazaki’s coach, said he didn’t need to give the team a message after a poor first set.

“The great thing about those two is that they had each other’s back even when they were 15 to six in the first set,” said the former AVP Tour star and U.S. Olympian, who is the founder of Spiker Beach Volleyball Club. “They really had each other’s back, and it was really fun to see them come through.”

In the final set, Higgins and Treumann jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Witherby and Okazaki tied the score at 10. With five points remaining, neither team had much margin for error. The score got to 12-all before Witherby and Okazaki won the final three points.

Gibb said the two had to navigate trying to score against a “very good team.” Higgins was able to make plays on the ball at the net while Treumann made impressive digs to set up their own attack.

Okazaki said they needed to meet their opponent’s passion on top of changing their strategy.

“I feel just like matching their energy,” Okazaki said. “They were really loud so I feel like getting in their head back was big.”

The Southern California duo met after Okazaki sent Witherby a direct message over social media. The pairing only started playing together in January, when they won their first tournament without practicing together. Since then, they have competed in tournaments at Hermosa Beach and Huntington Beach, culminating with their first national championship as juniors.

Gibb has coached Witherby for four years while Okazaki, who said winning the national championship was one of her goals the whole season, is a member of another club.

“To win (the championship) in her final year of club is just a massive win,” Gibb said of Witherby. “I think if you ask her, it’s the biggest win of her career.”

Said Witherby: “This is the tournament that I came to win. I felt like we had this.”

After finishing their final junior tournament as champions out of a field of more than 90 teams, Witherby and Okazaki will head off to their respective schools and potentially face off against each other next spring. Cal Poly and UCLA each reached the Final Four of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Tournament in May.

“Its going to be fun to see each on the other side in our college and stuff with our team,” Okazaki said. “It will be really cool to say hi.”

Witherby interjected after Okazaki’s answer.

“Take UCLA down,” she said.