McCarthy and Rascon Win Conference Title, Rutledge and Juarez Finish Third

LONG BEACH, Calif. --- El Camino College beach volleyball's top duo of Lauren McCarthy and Fayth Rascon won the 2022 South Coast Conference Pairs Championship on Saturday afternoon at Long Beach City College.

In addition to the conference champions, the Warriors also had their No. 3 pair of Leafa Juarez and Brea Rutledge qualify for the upcoming CCCAA Southern California Pairs Regionals on May 6-7 at the ECC Sand Courts. Juarez and Rutledge finished third at the SCC Championships.

The Warriors' top duo entered the SCC Championships as the No. 1 seed and cruised in the quarterfinals with a sweep (21-9, 21-8) over the No. 8 seeded duo of Nadine Oronoz and Faith Lee of Rio Hondo. 

In the semifinals, McCarthy and Rascon swept (21-18, 21-11) past No. 4 seeded Jennifer Lias and Celestial Ropati for a spot in the finals.

In the title match on Saturday, Rascon and McCarthy made quick work of No. 2 seeded Tyler Davis and Alexis Dempsey of College of the Desert to win the conference title.

The victory was the rubber match between the teams as Rascon and McCarthy won a tightly contested match (22-20, 21-17) on April 15 but Davis and Dempsey scored a victory on April 22, the final match of the regular season, in three sets. (16-21, 21-11, 15-10)

McCarthy and Rascon become the second straight Warriors duo to claim the SCC title after Phina Leilua and Kylee Glickman claimed the crown in 2019, the last time the SCC Pairs Championships were contested (2020 cancelled due to COVID-19; 2021 season cancelled).

As for Juarez and Rutledge, they entered the competition as the No. 6 seed but advanced all the way to the semifinals before falling to Davis/Dempsey (COD) in two sets (21-19, 21-16).

The loss dropped them to the third-place match where they secured a 21-18, 21-13 victory over Lias/Ropati.