Tag: girls sports

  • Beach Volleyball Update: They’re Killing It!

    This past week Long Beach Poly high school competed in its first Beach Volleyball Tournament and League Games. They first competed at Santa Monica Beach on Saturday March 16th against Santa Monica and Notre Dame. The three teams competed to win their match then the school that wins two out of the three matches takes the whole game. These three matches were close games with long rallies.
    Long Beach Poly lost to Santa Monica High School 2-1 and beat Notre Dame 2-1. “Playing these developed Beach volleyball programs was a cool experience for our first year” according to Senior Beach Volleyball player Sofia Skukan.
    On Tuesday March 26th, the Beach Volleyball team played their first league games against St. Joseph and Laguna Beach at the Huntington Beach courts. They played St. Joseph first and only four of our beach players could make it so whichever school won both game took the match. Long Beach Poly beat St. Joseph 2-0 and then played the strong Laguna Beach team.
    The Lady Jackrabbits lost 3-0 sets to the D1 college committed Laguna Beach players. “Competing with some of the top girls was so motivating because most of us haven’t played much beach volleyball in our lives,” said Junior Beach Volleyball player Ellie Requejo. The Poly girls are expected to play against Los Alamitos and St. Anthony’s teams in scrimmages next week.

  • Girls Water Polo’s Many Goals and Aspirations This Season

    On January 10, 2018, Long Beach Poly’s girls varsity water polo won its first Moore League game of the season against Lakewood with a score of 18-1 .

    “It was our first Moore League game, so it’s exciting to see how well we are doing so early in the season. Our hard work and ability to work well together as a team is definitely going to pay off this season. We had a strong preseason with intense practices and scrimmages against competitive teams,” said senior Sidney Balle, a utility player.

    The Poly team has played schools such as Canyon (9-7 W), Mission Viejo (14-6 W), Agoura (12-9 L), Yorba Linda (18-3 W), Santa Monica (9-4 W), El Toro (8-3 L), Villa Park (14-7 W), Cerritos (23-1 W), Palos Verdes (7-3 W), Redondo Union (14-9 L), and Peninsula (8-5 W) during their preseason in December.

    “During the preseason we worked really hard. We had the future in mind and we knew it wasn’t time to rest, but time to prepare. We had practices and tournaments and those preseason games were our time to make mistakes and correct them in time for the season. My position on the team is a utility player which means I do a bit of everything,” said senior Amanda Horton, “Headed into the game, I was focused but I knew as a team we should just aim to have fun and play good water polo. We started out a bit slow offensively, but our defense shut them out.”

    In the first quarter, Poly was in the lead with four points against Lakewood’s zero. In the second quarter, Poly stretched the lead to seven points. During the third quarter, Lakewood scored their one and only goal, with Poly scoring another five.

    “We had an amazing defense against Lakewood. They often had only one or two passes before we stole the ball. We came out slow in the first quarter but stepped it up in the second, scoring most our goals off counterattacks,” said senior Darby Huff, a set guard on the team. “But, I can’t stress enough that the relationship shared between all the girls, a bond created out of blood, sweat, and tears is going to make us successful this year. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls, especially our five amazing seniors who lead the way for all the younger girls.”

    “For the Lakewood game, I played as a setter. I felt that this game went great and was a great win for us to start Moore League an opportunity for us to fix any mistakes before facing tougher teams in Moore League and CIF playoffs,” said senior Sidney Brightenburg.

    “The Lakewood game started out slowly, but as the game progressed we had more intensity. Our great team defense paid off, allowing only two or three passes before we stole the ball from them. Our quick offense and good ball handling gave us the opportunity to make a lot of goals,” said senior Sidney Balle.

    The girls’ water polo team’s success did not come without hardship. For about five weeks, one of the heaters in the Poly pool was broken. They spent a week practicing in cold water before switching their practices to Cabrillo’s pool. Practices were also held at CSULB, LBCC, and Belmont. Shortly after, the girls returned to their own pool on January 8.

    Huff described how the team overcome adversity: “I feel very confident going into the season despite our setbacks involving sickness and our pool being out of commission for four weeks. We all have worked really hard this year, and our amazing coaching staff has pushed us not only physically but mentally as well.”

    Since the Lakewood game, the Jackrabbits have played five matches, including wins against Brea Olinda High School on January 12 and Warren High School on January 13. Poly’s girls water polo team now has an overall season record of 12 wins and six losses.