Sally Perez Wins U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship
October 24, 2025 | Beach Volleyball
PUEBLA, Mexico -- UCLA sophomore Sally Perez teamed up with Stanford sophomore Avery Jackson to winย theย 2025 FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship, capturing gold in an all-American final held in Puebla, Mexico (Oct. 15-19). They bested USC juniorย Zoey Henson and Sarah Wood (USC commit/Garnet Valley HS) in straight sets, becoming just the second-ever gold medalists in the women's U21 World Championship in U.S. history, and the first since 2010 (Tara Roenicke & Summer Ross).
The championship journey for Perez and Jackson began in theย qualification rounds, where they were seeded 13th out of 13 pairs in a blind draw. In their first match, they defeated fourth-seeded Milja Henriksson and Ester Hirvonen of Finland, 22-20, 21-17. Another straight-set win followed in the final match of qualifications as they defeated the 12th-seededย Czechoslovakian duo ofย Lucie Knoblochova and Adela Petrikova, 21-13, 21-17.
In the main draw, Perez and Jackson were placed in Group C and seeded 30th of 32 duos. They opened with a three-set thriller, battling back to beat the third-seeded tandem from Spain, Sofia Izuzquiza and Adriana Serrano Ferro, 18-21, 21-11, 15-13. A 14th-seeded pair from Morocco, Fakhr Imane and Bouysfi Fatima Zahra, was next in group play and the Americans beat them in two easy sets, 21-5, 21-8. Another three-set thriller in the final pool play match saw another come-from-behind win over the 19th-seed pair from Poland, Natalia Okla and Julia Radelczuk. Poland won the first set, 21-16, but the Americans regrouped to win the second set, 21-14, and dominated the third set, 15-6.
Thanks to a 3-0 record in group play, Perez and Jackson got to skip the Round of 24 and were placed into the Round of 16 bracket. There they met the top-seeded team out of Mexico, Naomi Alejandra Cruz Toledo and Angelica Jazmin Torres Galvan, who survived a third set in the Round of 24 to advance. But Perez and Jackson dominated, winning 21-17, 21-10.
In the Quarterfinals, the Americans once again had to rally to defeat the Latvian duo of Livaย Ebereย and Deniela Konstantinova, 18-21, 23-21, 15-12, to advance. Another tandem out of the qualification rounds waited for them in the Semifinals, Brazil's Marcela de Souza Mattoso Barbosa and Maria Clara Costa da Silva. Perez and Jackson had little trouble in the Semifinals, winning 21-15, 21-8, to set up the all-American finale.ย Wood and Henson survived a third-set in their Semifinal win over another pair to advance out of the qualifiers, Poland's Chiara Honti-Majoros andย Stefánia Flóra Kun.
Perez and Jackson showed remarkable resilience by winning nine matches (9-0) and dropping only threeย sets. Their performance in the final was equally stellar, taking the first set 25-23 after trailing 19-16, and then closing the match with a dominant 21-15 second set victory. Perez knew Wood well having captured bronze with her at the U19 World Championship.
In the battle for third place, Brazil's Marcela and Maria Clara secured the bronze medal over Hungary's Honti-Majoros and Kun.
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