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The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
Long Beach Poly swept Millikan Tuesday evening to set up a first-place showdown between the Moore League’s last two unbeaten teams: the Jackrabbits and Wilson, which will host the match this evening at 530pm. Neither coach at Tuesday’s match was particularly happy with their team’s performance, which saw Poly win 25-17, 25-17, 25-23.
“I thought we played a sloppy match,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “We should have taken control of that match earlier.”
The Jackrabbits were in the lead almost wire to wire in every set. After leading 21-16 in the first set, 20-15 in the second, and up 20-16 in the third they looked to be cruising to a sweep, but the Rams fought back with an ace by Calliope Tirado and a big kill from Aubrey Greene, cutting the lead to 24-23 before a kill by Cedra Talaga put it away for the Jackrabbits.
Rams coach Antoinette De La Espriella said it took her team some time to get going.
“It definitely wasn’t our best game, it was a slow start to pick up our energy and intensity,” she said. The Rams are without recently-injured Sophia Nygaard and Bethany Arnold, and are trying to replace a starting middle and libero on the fly.
“We’re trying to make those adjustments,” said De La Espriella.
The Rams were led by Judah Washington, who had eight kills, and Greene, who had six kills and two aces. Tirado had eight kills and looked good on the slide play.
Poly was led by their middles, as seniors Layla Moore and Kristen Dear combined for 16 kills and two blocks on .667 hitting. Moore had 10 kills and the blocks and was an emotional spark for the Jackrabbits when things were lagging. Talaga had eight kills and 12 digs, and libero Sydney Mercado had eight digs.
The Jackrabbits turn their attention to Wilson in tonight’s first-place showdown, before they head to Vegas for the Durango Tournament this weekend. The first CIF-SS rankings came out yesterday which show Wilson ranked No. 21 in the section and Poly ranked No. 74.
“It’s two historically good teams, they’re coached really ell on their side and we know we have to go out there and beat them,” said Aquiningoc. “They’re not going to let us just play any type of way, we have to go earn it.”
