Taft's Julia Bazylevych and Prior Borick win first ever beach volleyball pairs championship in CIF history

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- This summer when LA City Section officials add the 2022 spring sport champions to the Section record book, they'll have to add a new page.

The  Section held the first ever CIF sanctioned beach volleyball pairs championship on Friday afternoon from Santa Monica State Beach. Taft's duo of Julia Bazylevych and Prior Borick took home the title over Charlotte Wilson and Jordan Palmer from El Camino Real.

"This feels really good," Prior said.

Twenty teams made up of players from Chatsworth, El Camino Real, Los Angeles CES, Palisades, San Pedro, Taft and WISH Academy participated in the event. The championship event consisted of pool play followed by bracket play to determine the winner.

Taft entered the bracket portion of the championship as the No. 4 seed. In the semifinals, Bazylevych and Prior took down top seeded El Camino Real 28-21. In the title game, Bazylevych and Prior beat El Camino Real's B team 28-17. 

"This means a lot because we lost to Elco and Pali the whole season and then in the playoffs and championships we beat them," Bazylevych said.

Next week, the LA City Section will host another 'first' when they put on a team beach volleyball championship event.  

"For us to be the first in California out here with pairs and teams it's exciting," LA City Section commissioner Vicky Lagos said on Friday. "We kind of tried to model it after tennis a little bit this year just to give the girls in their inaugural season an opportunity to play both in pairs and as a team, to give them more exposure. It's gone really, really well. We've had a lot of support. It's exciting because a lot of other schools are now asking about it. I think next year it will continue to grow."