The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
A terrific season for the Wilson Bruins came to an end on Saturday morning at LBCC, as the Bruins dropped a narrow decision to Oaks Christian, 3-2, in the CIF-SS Division 2 beach volleyball semifinals.
Things didn’t start out great for Wilson as they dropped the first set on all five courts, but the bottom of the Bruins lineup grinded out three-set wins to put points on the board.
Kierin Adams and Peyton Agura battled back for a win at the No. 4 spot, winning their match 16-21, 21-14, 15-7. In Flight 5, freshman Iyla Alvarado and sophomore Jane Morrison collected a 19-21, 21-10, 16-14 victory.
Wilson’s best chance at that crucial third point came in the second flight, where Sadie Calderone and Milan Lewis were deadlocked at 21-21 in the second set, but dropped two straight points to suffer the 21-11, 23-21 defeat.
While the Bruins came up just short of their CIF championship aspirations, there’s no reason to think they can’t get right back to this spot next season. With such a young roster for head coach Jeremy Cook, Wilson should be optimistic about their future on the sand.
The Bruins graduate just two seniors off this year’s roster–Emiya Green and Kate Eckenrode, who is part of Wilson’s top flight pair. Even more impressive, 23 of the 29 players in the Wilson program this year were freshmen or sophomores.
Overall this season, Wilson went 15-4 with a 10-0 Moore League record. Two of those losses came against higher division opponents–Edison and Los Alamitos–and the other two were against a Division 2 semifinalist–Crean Lutheran–and the eventual D2 champion, Oaks Christian.
Saturday didn’t mark the end of the beach volleyball season, however, as the CIF-SS Individual Championships begin on Tuesday in Huntington Beach. Leagues will send its top pairs to compete in tournament play for a chance to bring home individual gold.
