Mira Costa High School players celebrate after winning a match during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sara Moynihan of JSerra High School dives to return the ball during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against Mira Costa High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Sara Moynihan of JSerra High School dives to return the ball during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against Mira Costa High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Mira Costa High School players and coaches pose with the championship plaque after winning the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Olga Nikolaeva of Mira Costa High School returns a serve during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Olga Nikolaeva of Mira Costa High School reaches to return the ball during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Nancy Reynolds, coach of Mira Costa High School, celebrates with her players after they won the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Mira Costa High School players celebrate after winning the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Nancy Reynolds, coach of Mira Costa High School, celebrates with her players after they won the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
Mira Costa High School players celebrate after winning the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
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Mira Costa High School players celebrate after winning a match during the CIF Southern Section girls beach volleyball Division 1 championship against JSerra High School at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, California, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Photo by Mark Savage, Contributing Photographer)
LONG BEACH — Mira Costa’s girls beach volleyball team didn’t let one brief hiccup derail its pursuit of a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship.
“This group came in with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder after losing here last year,” Mira Costa coach Nancy Reynolds said. “We were very prepared. Each court, each girl, all season long. That was our motto.”
Mira Costa swept JSerra 5-0 Saturday, winning 10 of a possible 11 sets to regain the Division I title, after losing last season to Redondo Union, at Long Beach City College.
Since beach volleyball became a CIF-SS sanctioned sport in 2023, Mira Costa has won three CIF-SS championships.
“Everything we did this season was to hopefully get to this moment,” Reynolds said. “When we got here, in our minds we had already done it. Preparation was super key.”
Needing each of its five pairings to win two of three sets, Mira Costa (26-1) won its first five sets and quickly put itself in position to clinch in the second round of matches.
After the No. 4 pairing (Sofia Sala and Sammy Nammack) won 21-9, 21-17 and No. 3 pairing (Lily Vandeweghe and Lucy Matusak) followed with a 21-15, 21-12 victory, the championship came down to Mira Costa’s No. 5 tandem of Lerin Rosenthal and Lily Enfield.
Rosenthal and Enfield trailed 19-17 late in the second set before rallying for a 21-19 win to clinch the title. The duo won the opening set 21-14.
“We had to take a step back. We were very high energy,” Rosenthal said. “We both needed to just take a break and reset, focus on getting a good serve and a good pass.”
Mira Costa’s No. 2 pairing of Allyn Hilt and Lily Sprague won their match 21-17, 21-16.
Rosenthal said it was difficult to contain her emotions while waiting for the rest of the team to finish, even after helping clinch the championship.
“It was extremely difficult to maintain my emotions until the entire match was over,” Rosenthal said. “We’ve been having really high energy all day, we had a very exciting warmup and an exciting pep talk, so I had very high adrenaline the whole day, including during my match.”
When the final point was played in Olga Nikolaeva and Ruby Cochrane’s three-set match — 21-19, 17-21, 15-13 — the Mustangs were finally able to celebrate as a team, even dousing Reynolds with water after receiving the CIF-SS plaque.
“It was pure joy, honestly,” Rosenthal said. “Celebrating with my team has never felt better. Just the best girls I can be surrounded by, all coming together and celebrating our win.”
Even after Mira Costa had clinched the championship, Nikolaeva maintained a business-as-usual mindset while finishing off JSerra’s top pairing of Sara Moynihan and Emma Champagne.
“I knew (we had clinched the title),” Nikolaeva said. “I feel like the girls were talking about it and I overheard it, but it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, you want to sweep. You have to play the hardest no matter whether you win or lose.”
Mira Costa didn’t get the rematch it wanted against rival Redondo Union— the team responsible for its only regular-season loss and last year’s championship defeat — but the Mustangs still bookended their season with victories over JSerra, with Saturday’s win carrying far greater significance.
“It’s been a very successful season,” Rosenthal said. “I love these girls. They’re my best friends and it’s a lot of emotions right now. I’m so happy that we won, but it’s definitely heartbreaking to be done with this season.”