Tag: girls volleyball

  • Girls Volleyball Spikes Success

    One of the many sports active this season at Long Beach Poly High is girls Volleyball, coached by Leland McGrath. Tryouts and training for Frosh Soph, Junior Varsity, and Varsity teams were held earlier this summer. The girls volleyball teams have matches held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with tournaments also taking place on some Saturdays. Junior Varsity and Frosh Soph games start at 3:00pm while Varsity begins at 4:15pm.

    On Sept. 21-22, the teams competed in the Durango Volleyball Tournament in Las Vegas, NV.

    After a few tough matches against Wilson and Millikan the Jackrabbits started getting the outcomes they’ve been hoping for in their matches, including a  25 – 16, 25 – 13, 25 – 10 sweep against the St. Joseph Jesters.

    Thanks to a lineup change made by Coach McGrath and a change in the girls’ energy the Jackrabbits got what they were striving for. McGrath put sophomore Adonia Faumuina as one of the setters in the team’s two-setter system.

    Halfway through the  Moore League girls’ volleyball season, Long Beach Poly swept Lakewood on Sept. 25, forcing a first-place tie between the Jackrabbits and Lancers.  Poly was also fierce in a road sweep of the Lancers, winning 25-21, 25-10, 25-15.

  • 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.

  • “SLAM”! Lady Jackrabbits Take A W

    “SLAM”! Lady Jackrabbits Take A W

    On Tuesday, October 2, the varsity girls volleyball team,  played against Cabrillo High School.

    The Lady Jackrabbits won all their games: varsity,  junior varsity and frosh/soph. When the varsity team won, the crowd went wild. Although it was an easy win for Poly, the parents in the Cabrillo section tried their best to root on their girls and boost their morale.

    Alexis Duran, varsity player, was excited before the game shouting to her teammates,  “Let’s get this win!”

    Although there was not a huge turnout for the game, the crowd was very energetic, giving off positive vibes and supporting their friends and family who were playing.

    As the game began, the Poly supporters  chanted but not as loudly as they could have so as to be respectful to the Cabrillo players.

    The JV and frosh/soph teams when easily and the Varsity team dominates with a 4-0 win.

    Every round the girls gave no mercy as they spiked the ball repeatedly, giving in to their enemies’ blind; the Cabrillo girls, sadly, had no chance against our powerful team.

    With a powerful strike  from Samoana Poyer, the ball violently hit the floor and the Jaguars frantically try to hit the ball back over the net but fail, bringing lady jackrabbits to their  ultimate victory. “Great Job Ladies!” yelled Billy Heak.“Well done ladies!” the volleyball fathers yelled in unison as the Jackrabbits honored each other’s success.

    The junior varsity girls volleyball team have an away game Saturday, October 13,  at South High School against South High School and  frosh/soph also has a game on October 13, at Lakewood High school against Lakewood.

  • Jackrabbits Level Lady Lancers of Lakewood

    The Poly vs. Lakewood girls volleyball  game took place on

    September 12, 2018 in the big gym. Tons of people turned out to the game. It was a highly anticipated game against Poly’s own rival.

    According to multiple players this game was way more intense compared to the Jordan game. The team chemistry improved a lot and helped them strive through the game.

    The first round of the game poly and lakewood were going back and forth returning one point to point to each other. A very close first round but of course poly won the first round. The second round was sort of the same as the first. They both were exchanging points one by one but lakewood began to get a lead by four so it started to get more intense.

    But at the last seconds poly had lost the second round. The third round the seats started to become more crowded and more people from both sides were cheering each of their teams on.

    Poly had won the third round by four points. The biggest gap we had all game so the crowd was ecstatic. The rest of the rounds were the same were the same each of the teams only winning by no more than three.

    But in the final round it got way more intense. More intense then it has been the entire game because both sides were even and this was the making point or the breaking point of the game. Both teams were neck and neck the entire time.

    Then poly started to fall behind a little and lakewood had a small lead. When lakewood was five points away from winning poly began to start coming back. Then one final hit decided the fate of the game. And poly won!

  • Jackrabbits Hop To Islands

    Poly’s boys water polo team and the girls volleyball team represented Long Beach in Hawaii at tournaments and bonded with their fellow teammates this last August.

    The boys water polo team spent a week on Oahu while competing at the Hawaii Invitational Water Polo Tournament in Oahu August 5 through 11. Overall, the Jackrabbits placed seventh in the tournament of 24 opposing teams with two wins and three losses.

    “There were a lot of good teams from all different places. A lot of our games were decided by one or two goals. We even ended up in a shoot-out to end the game. With a few of our players not being able to travel with us, other players were forced to step up their level of planning to fill the gaps,” said Horton.

    [pullquote align=”right” speaker=”Jessica Alberto”]Being in Hawaii not only helped us learn to become a better all around team, but also helped us to become closer as a family.[/pullquote]

    The team consisted of seniors Andrew Gutierrez, Ryan Rockenbach, Ryan Meyer, Brandon Nguyen, and Grant Horton, juniors Benjamin Nguyen, Ian Kwong, Trevor Parks, Alejandro Nieto, and Justin Jarvis, sophomore Spencer Steffen, and Poly alumnus Tristan Brightenburg.

    “The team bonding and experience was really worth the six hour plane trip there. It was fun. I would definitely do it again,” said Gutierrez.

    When they weren’t competing, the boys spent the day bonding over hikes around the island, surf sessions in Waikiki bay and beach adventures on the North Shore.

    “Spending a whole week in Hawaii with my team was a once in a lifetime experience.  Being surrounded by water was like paradise for us. If we weren’t in the pool then we were at the beach,” said junior Nguyen. “Not only was it fun, but it was also a great team bonding trip.  We are now an even closer family than we were before. Hawaii will always be the place to be.”

    Poly’s varsity girls volleyball team also traveled to Oahu over the summer to compete in the 31st annual Ann Kang Invitational Volleyball Tournament. The team placed sixth of 16 teams, securing its spot in the tournament’s Gold Champion bracket.

    The AKIVB Tournament took place over the weekend of August 15, though the girls stayed from the 14th through the 20th. Of the 16 teams participating, nine were local teams, and seven were from the mainland. Poly won three of their eight total matches, including a long awaited victory over Mira Costa.

    “Being in Hawaii not only helped us learn to become a better all around team, but also helped us to become closer as a family,” said senior captain Jessica Alberto.

    According to Alberto, by spending the week together, the team was able to come together and prepare for what will hopefully be a winning season for the girls.

    “Between the surf and the luau, us coaches really got a chance to bond in a way that was totally unrelated to volleyball, for once,” said head coach Leland McGrath.

    The boys have their first game against Cerritos High School on September 17 at Cerritos and the girls had their first game of the season against Newport Harbor last week but could not be reported on due to press time constraints.