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The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
Long Beach Poly boys’ volleyball coach Sid Davidson had one message for his seniors as they prepared for their first “win or go home” CIF battle against Warren:
“Play like this is your last game.”
With their coach’s words in mind, the Jackrabbits locked in, using timely shotmaking and clutch execution down the stretch to defeat Warren High School at their home court 25-18, 30-28, 25-27, 25-21 in the first round of CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs.
Poly came out strong in the first set, led by aggressive offense from junior Jackson Trunnelle and junior Matthew Tsao while also taking advantage of miscommunication errors from Warren. However, the second and fourth sets were both nail biters that the Jackrabbits won in the trenches after staving off rallies from Warren.
In the 2nd set, Poly was up 24-22 after a clutch dig from libero Jonas Guiterrez and a kill from Tsao. However, Warren responded with back–to-back kills to tie it 24-24. Following that, the Jackrabbits and Warren traded kills back-and-forth until the score reached 28-28, where KJ Hill utilized his length and strength to pound two back-to-back kills down the middle of the court, catapulting the Jackrabbits to a 30-28 set win.
“It’s important knowing my team always has my back.” said Hill. “That allowed me to swing away and get those kills we needed at the time we needed them.”
Set three was another close one with Warren fighting more aggressively with their season on the line. Poly again led late 24-20 after a pair of aces from senior Lucky Iosua. However, Poly couldn’t prevent a ferocious rally from Warren, who won four straight points and stayed ahead of the Jackrabbits in the tiebreaker points, with the Jackrabbits losing 25-27.
The four set was much like the second, with the Jackrabbits winning the clutch points down the stretch. Along with kills from Tsao and Iosua, KJ Hill had 4 kills in the final 10 points for the Jackrabbits, including the final kill to punctuate the Jackrabbits 25-21 set and match win. Following his shot, Hill let out a huge scream and was stormed by his teammates from the sidelines, a moment he says he’ll never forget.
“We definitely started being more consistent with our passing, we got into a rhythm early on and were able to win the points that mattered and stay focused throughout,” said Davidson. “Very proud of how our guys battled through the tough parts of our sets today.”
Overall on the night, Hill led the Jackrabbits with 12 kills and 7 blocks, with Tsao adding 11 kills. Iousua also had 9 kills and Trunnelle had 7 kills and 5 blocks. Gutierrez led the team with 8 digs in the Libero role despite battling an illness, while Ali’i Tupu was strong off the bench with 2 kills and 5 assists.
“Our defense, my Libero, came out and shined.” said Davidson. “We made sure to coach up our players on the sideline and they stayed focused. Ali’i led our bench which came in and did their part.”
The Jackrabbits will continue their CIF run with a matchup against Trabuco Hills, at home on Saturday at 6pm.
“We just gotta give it everything we got,” said Hill. “That’s how we’re gonna win this thing, by giving it our all.”
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