Bantle Brothers Make National Beach Team

Summer will be no "day at the beach" for Will and Jackson Bantle.

No, it'll be many long days at the beach, because both have been chosen to represent the USA 
in the FIVB International Beach Volleyball championships later this month. 

Will has made the USA's Under-17 team, which will compete July 16-20 in Acapulco, Mexico. 
He and Rob Mullahey of Manhattan Beach have been beach partners for three years and earned 
their A rating as 15-year-olds a few weeks ago. Will captained Loyola High's freshman team to 
a league title and also plays for Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club's 16's team, which has 
won silver and bronze medals the last two years at Junior Nationals. 

Jackson, a starting opposite hitter at UCLA, will play for the USA's Under-21 team July 23-27 
in Larnaca, Cyprus. Two weeks ago he and partner Branden Clemens of Harvard University 
earned their AAA rating, the highest awarded on the beach.

Their sister Taylor is entering her senior season at Brown University, where plays middle 
blocker. She won a CIF championship as a senior at Marymount High and played six years 
for Sunshine Volleyball Club.

- Steve Galluzzo