USC senior Lucas Yoder of San Clemente teamed with UC Irvine’s Michael Saeta to win the gold medal at the inaugural USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships on Saturday, May 13, at the Hermosa Beach Pier.
Yoder/Saeta defeated UCLA’s Jackson Bantle and Hagen Smith in the final, 21-16, 21-13, to earn a spot on the USA Volleyball collegiate beach national team.
Yoder/Saeta, the 11-team tourney’s top seed, never lost a set in the 3-day tourney. Earlier on Saturday, Yoder/Saeta defeated the No. 3 seed of Davenport’s Nathan Vander Meer and Cincinnati Christian’s Logan Webber, 21-16, 21-18, in the semifinals.
After going 2-0 in pool play (with wins over No. 8 seed Brian Ross/Bobby Costigan of Sacred Heart and No. 6 seed Louis Richard/Matt Butler of Long Beach State), Yoder/Saeta swept their quarterfinal match on Friday (May 12) with a 21-17, 24-22 victory over 11th-seeded Matthew Yoshimoto and Jake Walenga of Lewis.
The victory for Yoder comes off a stellar indoor season at USC, which saw the San Clemente High graduate named to the 2017 American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American second team.
Yoder joins his late father, Dave, who was also an SCHS grad and also earned All-American second team notice in 1987 while an outside hitter at USC.
Lucas Yoder, who also made the 2017 All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation first team, led the nation in kills (4.85) and points (5.22) as of May 1. The 3-year starter had 359 kills, 96 digs, 25 blocks and 13 aces in 2017. In his career, he had 1,032 kills, 307 digs, 91 blocks and 32 aces.
Yoder helped the 2017 Trojans double their win total from the previous year (Troy was 14-14 overall this year) and earn a berth in the MPSF Tournament after a year’s hiatus.
Yoder who was an All-MPSF second teamer in 2014 when he was the MPSF Freshman of the Year, and then was an honorable mention choice as a junior in 2016.
