Falcons Lutsiv and Vorster Soar to NorCal Pairs Title

3C2A Beach Volleyball Championships

Cupertino, CA - There's a new kid in town in Northern California beach volleyball, sporting a uniform of teal and black, with purple accents. Welcome to the club, Folsom Lake College.

FLC's Alla Lutsiv and Stacy Vorster posted a wire-to-wire 28-22 championship match win over Fresno City's Lusa Andrews and Jayla Iverson Saturday at the 3C2A NorCal Regional Championships at The Beach At De Anza. The title is the first for a Falcon beach program that is clearly on the rise under first-year coach Charlie Ekstrom.

Both championship-match pairs reached the final match without dropping a set. No. 2-seeded Lutsiv and Vorster took things a step further by not allowing either of its first two opponents to hit double figures in traditional best-of-three matches. Top-seeded Andrews and Iverson were also dominant, with neither of their first two opponents breaking 15.

"Our strategy was to be aggressive and to just get after it," said Lutsiv. Get after it, they did.

Most of Saturday's matches, with many pairs already qualified for next weekend's championship tournament at Mt. San Antonio College, were single-set battles to 28. As the field narrowed and only state championship seeding to be determined, the scores tightened up.

Quarterfinal action saw Andrews and Iverson get past Fresno City teammates Devyn and Morgan Castaneda 28-23, while Lutsiv and Vorster dispatched the fourseed, Feather River's Avary Arment and Shelby Nussle 28-20. 

Andrews and Iverson earned a spot in the championship with a 28-21 semifinal victory over Feather River's 9th-seeded Teya Gibbs and Mia Rivera. Lutsiv and Vorster held off the feisty 22-seed, Monterey Peninsula's Hannah Child and Anna Eldridge 28-22 to advance to the title tilt.

The Falcon pair quickly jumped in front in the championship and, leading 20-15, forced Fresno City coach Kieran Roblee to call a tech timeout. Lutsiv and Vorster kept attacking off some stellar defense to add to their lead. A Ram return error on match point sealed the Folsom Lake win and set off a sirocco-like first-ever-regional-championship celebration.

"It feels amazing," Vorster said of the win. "It's just an honor to be a part of this team."  

Lutsiv added, "We've worked so hard all season long to get here."

The Falcon pair, both freshmen, had not played together until the start of the year. "Coach evaluated everyone at the start of the year and she could see we just had this instant chemistry," Vorster said. "She saw something we didn't know we had."

"These two are a special duo," said Ekstrom. "We were fortunate to have them here when I took over at the start of the year. I saw, early on, they ran a unique type of offense."

Ekstrom continued to be effusive about her pair, adding, "They have a catalytic, yin-and-yang partnership. Stacy brings the emotion, and Alla brings the steady."

And, Folsom Lake, thanks to Alla Lutsiv and Stacy Vorster, now has a NorCal pairs title. Northern California has been dominated by the trio of Cabrillo, Feather River and Fresno since the sport's 3C2A inception in 2015. Ekstrom is well aware of the decade-long tradition and influence of Feather River's Sarah Ritchie and Fresno's Roblee.

"Seeing these storied programs in Fresno and Feather River kind of uplifts that Northern California spirit in general," she said. "My future plans for this Folsom Lake program includes having us right up there with those other great programs. We're trying to build a culture, so I look up to Sarah and Kieran."

"This was only our program's third year," Ekstrom added before heading over to have some pictures taken with her NorCal champs. "A lot of our girls had never played beach volleyball before. I think this is the year we put Folsom Lake College on the volleyball map."

Lutsiv and Vorster served notice to the rest of the pairs heading to Walnut, saying in unison, "We're coming after it."

The 3C2A Beach Volleyball State Championships is May 7-9 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. For complete tournament information, including brackets, schedules, streaming and lodging, visit the 3C2A website:

Courtesy of Matt Folsom, CCCSIA