Locals heat up the beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Indoors or out, in a stuffy gym in Atlanta or on a mild summer day at the Huntington Beach Pier, Kyle Baily is ready to perform on the volleyball court.

That’s what he’s been doing all summer, and it continued Sunday at the USA Beach Junior Tour Championship at the pier.

Baily, who will be a sophomore at Huntington Beach High, and partner Parker Brown of Corona del Mar won the boys’ under-16 division. They defeated Dillon Hoffman and Chris Orenic of San Clemente, 28-23, for the gold medal.

Cassie Strickland, who will be a sophomore at Edison High, also struck gold in the girls’ 18s. She and partner Emily Cook of Murrieta topped Stephanie Pellitteri and Leigh Andrew from Florida, 28-22.

Teams from around the country competed at the finale of the 14-event USA Beach Junior Tour. Baily had won the Manhattan Beach event last month with a different partner, but he and Brown are also quite familiar.

They both play on the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club, and they won gold at the Junior Olympics last month in Atlanta in the 15 Open division. Baily was named to the all-tournament team.

“We expected to do well,” said Baily, who earned the nickname “fresh” for being a rare freshman on varsity for the Oilers last spring. “Our goal every tournament is to win ... I pretty much grew up on the beach.”

That’s what happens when your mother, Mary, used to play professionally on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals

“He wants to play every beach tournament there is,” Mary Baily said. “I help train him during the week ... Kyle’s a hitter and a passer [in indoor volleyball]. He had to learn how to set the ball, which has been really good for his game.”

Strickland is gearing up for the Chargers’ season, but she hadn’t even met her partner Cook until Saturday, the day before the competition. She said they were paired together on the advice of Darryl Gan, the CdM girls’ coach and also a club coach at Orange County Volleyball Club, where Cook plays.

Yet, they made it work.

Strickland, who has played libero and outside hitter for Edison, said she was a bit nervous competing in 18s in a beach tournament for the first time.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” said Strickland, who won a silver medal at Junior Olympics with the Fountain Valley-based TCA Volleyball Club. “But it was a lot of fun.”

And playing on the beach may be different than indoor, but Strickland, who also earned all-tournament team status at JOs, definitely doesn’t mind.

“I love it here,” she said. “The beach is where I live. It’s all good.”

Huntington Beach resident Megan Gibbs, who will be an eighth-grader at Dwyer Middle School, took second in the girls’ 14s division. Gibbs and partner Alexis Cage of Newport Beach advanced to the final before falling to Lan Nguyen of Manhattan Beach and Christina Jones of Long Beach, 21-16.

Gibbs is fairly tall at almost 5-feet-9. But Cage, the daughter of former NBA player Michael Cage, is a force as she’s already 6-1.

“We play in almost every tournament every weekend,” Gibbs said. “I’m happy with second.”

Although the USA Beach Junior season is now over, the California Beach Volleyball Assn. continues. Many of the same players will compete at the pier again this weekend, and at the California Cup championships over Labor Day weekend at Manhattan Beach.