Ashley Huberts and Karissa Marazzi are officially the queens of the beach at the Abbotsford 2016 BC Summer Games.
The Abbotsford residents and MEI students rolled through the beach volleyballl tournament undefeated, capping off the gold medal win with a sweep of Vancouver Island-Central Coast duo Madison McDonald and Olivia Godek by scores of 21-17 and 21-9.
Huberts and Marazzi have been playing together since Grade 7 and the pair said this ranks high on their list of achievements.
“It feels really good to win,” Marazzi said. “We had a bit of a rough start, I think maybe we were kind of not awake yet.”
The teams were tied at 16 in the first set, until the Fraser Valley duo poured it on to score the win. The second set was more of the same, with Huberts and Marazzi pulling out to a big lead and cruising to the win.
“We didn’t really know what to expect coming in to this tournament,” Huberts said. “But we were confident heading into this.”
The duo also helped the MEI Eagles senior girls team win a AA provincial title back in December, with Huberts named the provincial final tournament’s most valuable player. The pair were also part of a championship team in the U17 indoor club season earlier this year.
They play for Langley’s Airborne volleyball club when high school volleyball is finished. Marazzi said it was nice to see both the Fraser Valley boys and girls come out on top.
“I guess some of our success is from the commitment it takes to go to places like Coquitlam and Langley to play and practice,” she said. “It’s cool to see both teams win gold.”
Next up for the duo is the beach volleyball provincial next Saturday at Spanish Banks in Vancouver.
