APTOS — The Aptos High girls volleyball team will enter the 2018 season with two players already committed to NCAA Division I beach volleyball programs.

Earlier this year, outside hitter Jillian Rodriguez committed to Long Beach State and defensive specialist Cameron Dueck committed to Pepperdine.

The two early decisions continued a recent surge of commitments from Santa Cruz County athletes that started with Aptos alumna Jenna Belton signing with the University of Southern California in 2014. Fellow Aptos alumna Madison Dueck — Cameron’s cousin — signed with Cal Berkeley shortly after, and recent Soquel High graduate Maggie Walters is off at UC Los Angeles.

Incoming Soquel junior Sam Strah also recently committed to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and will join Monte Vista Christian alumna Sjea Anderson on the Mustangs’ roster after graduating in 2020.

Santa Cruz Beach Volleyball Club director Lucas Bol has coached all of those aforementioned athletes over the years. He said seeing kids from the county find success through his program, which broke off from Main Beach Volleyball Club in 2016, has been satisfying.

“It just shows that there’s a progression, that we’re making an impact with the girls who want to get better,” Bol said. “These two specifically, they worked really hard for this and I’m happy for them.”

With her long, wiry frame Rodriguez, an incoming senior, seemed like a perfect fit for the beach or the indoor game. She ultimately chose to focus her efforts on the beach, but could have very well been playing indoor after her final high school season.

“Ever since I have tried beach, I just fell in love with the sport,” Rodriguez said. “I love the beach volleyball community and atmosphere. I have found that I have a lot more passion for beach volleyball.”

Rodriguez said she had hopes of not only staying in the state, but signing with a college program in Southern California. Long Beach State’s coaches, location and competitiveness made the decision a no-brainer.

“After looking into a couple different programs,” she said, “I could really see myself going to Long Beach.”

She last year paced the Mariners in kills (245) and aces (41), while also finishing third in digs (178). She earned an All-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League First Team honor for her efforts.

Former Aptos head coach Ashley Tennant, who stepped down after last season, called Rodriguez a “complete player” whose game made the transition from indoor to the beach an easy one.

“She does it all and you see it in the stats,” Tennant said. “It’s not just her hitting numbers, but she was also at the top of the team with her defense and passing. She’s someone you can’t have come off the floor.”

Dueck, an incoming junior, last fall impacted the Mariners with her impressive defensive capabilities in the back line. She finished with the second-most digs on the team (210), and was one of the best passers on the squad. She also finished third on the team in aces (22).

Measuring in at 5-foot-5, Dueck was not blessed with much height, but her athleticism and competitiveness made her a force from an early age.

“She was our toughest competitor on last year’s team by far,” Tennant said, “and that toughness transfers over really well to the beach where more is thrown on your shoulders.”

Dueck said her competitiveness and athleticism are a product of her family. Along with having her oldest cousin, Madison, playing beach at Cal, her middle cousin, Paige, was a star soccer player at Aptos and her younger cousin, Peyton, played along side her on the volleyball team last year.

Peyton, an incoming sophomore who was an All-SCCAL First Team selection last season, is also already getting looks from college programs for indoor and beach volleyball.

“We were super competitive but it’s all love,” Dueck said. “We’re so blessed that we got to have that. We got to grow up together, and that brought out some natural competition…We’re not even cousins, we’re more like sisters.”

Dueck said she made up her mind after an unofficial visit to Pepperdine in April. She met the players, took a tour around the campus and saw the program’s practice/game beach.

“Everything was so family oriented, and everyone there was so loving,” Dueck said. “All the puzzle pieces just fit right. No other school would’ve been a better fit.”

Rodriguez and Dueck last season helped the Mariners win their fifth straight SCCAL title and advance to the Central Coast Section Division III championship game for the second consecutive season. The duo will be part of a small but strong five-player returning group, which also features senior setter Chloe Manor, senior opposite Carolina Ogden and Peyton Dueck.

Lake Merchen, a two-time All-American at UC Santa Cruz, is the new head coach at Aptos.

“Lake’s a great guy and he understands volleyball,” Tennant said. “He’ll do great.”

The number of Santa Cruz County athletes receiving college offers from beach programs is one of a few signs the gap between Southern and Northern California is slowly starting to shrink. Yet Bol, who coached the Cabrillo College beach program to a state title last spring, said beach volleyball in Northern California still has a long way to go in order to fully catch up.

Most girls who join Bol’s Santa Cruz Beach Volleyball Club do not grow up around the game, yet some schools in Southern California offer beach volleyball as early as middle school. Bol last school year coordinated a club league for high school teams from Los Gatos, Monterey and Santa Cruz. The league was a member of the Northern California Beach Volleyball High School League, which was founded in 2016 and had 35 high school participate last spring.

“The discrepancy in experience is still there and that’s the biggest advantage girls in Southern California have on our girls,” Bol said. “We’re getting there, but it’s going to take time.”

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