The562’s coverage of high school volleyball in 2024-2025 is brought to you by the MLP’s Bay Area Breakers.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
They say that games are won between the lines. In a first-place Moore League showdown between unbeatens Long Beach Poly and Wilson, the Jackrabbits won it from just outside the end line, with an impressive serving performance that helped lead them to a 19-25, 25-13, 25-16, 30-28 victory.
Both coaches agreed the Jackrabbits held a slight edge from the end line and that it ended up making the difference in the match. Poly had 13 aces to Wilson’s 11, but more consistently kept the Bruins out of system.
“The first thing we talk about is winning the serve and pass battle,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “We put a lot of emphasis on serving and passing in everything we do–everything we do in our gym involves those two things.”
The Jackrabbits’ service attack was led by libero Sydney Mercado, who had five aces, with Hannah Ballungay and Lauren Foster chipping in a pair of aces each. As good as their serve was, they also handled Wilson’s pressure well, allowing them to set the middle. Senior middle blocker Kristen Dear was just as dominant against Wilson as her teammate Layla Moore was against Millikan the night before. Against the Bruins, Dear put up 13 kills on .764 hitting along with four blocks.
“I felt we were being a little bit too conservative (serving),” said Wilson coach Chris Ceballos. “And then when we were aggressive, we’re putting it out of bounds. We talked about it at the beginning of the game, serving was going to be the most important factor in this game, especially with middles like they have. If we could serve tough and eliminate them, we’d have a fighting chance. But we didn’t accomplish that this game–we’ll get better.”
The first set made it look like it would be all Bruins, as they raced out to a 6-1 start and led 17-9 at one point. Simrin Adams was slicing and dicing the Poly defense with cut shots and well placed floaters, with teammate Kate VanderWal putting up two kills and two blocks in the set as well. The Bruins easily cruised to a 25-19 victory in the frame.
Poly came back just as ferociously, also leading 6-1 in the second set and leading 20-9 at one point en route to tying it up with a 25-13 set two win. The Bruins led 14-12 in set three, before Mercado and Foster went on extended service runs with multiple aces teach to key an 11-1 Poly run that put them in control of the set and the match. They easily finished off the 25-16 set three win, closing it out on a 13-2 run.
At that point, Ceballos was just looking to see his team show some fight after losing two lopsided frames.
“I wanted to see us come out and compete, we could easily have given up the way we lost sets two and three,” he said. “I wanted to see how we’d react, because we’ve talked about our mental approach all season. They wanted it and they fought back, and I’m proud of how we rebounded.”
The Jackrabbits took a 20-17 lead after back-to-back aces by Cedra Talaga, who also had 14 kills for the Jackrabbits. But Wilson came back on kills from Adams and Milan Lewis, plus a crafty dump by VanderWal to tie it up. The Bruins got to set point at 24-22 but Poly fought two off with a Bruin error and then a block by Taimane Poe and Moore, which deuced it. Both teams had opportunities to close it out, and the Bruins led 27-26. But Poly won consecutive points on a big kill from Dear and a block by Emma Holder and Dear. After a service error kept the Bruins in it, Poly finished the match with a kill by Talaga and a match point kill from Aleeya Salima.
“We set some pregame intentions as far as getting through adversity,” said Dear. “That’s where we’ve struggled a little bit. But I felt like our mental was really tough and we played really well.”
Asked if it was fun being a dominant player in the middle, Dear laughed. “Not to toot my own horn, but it’s kind of great. It’s fun for sure.”
Dear and Aquiningoc both said that Poly was motivated in part by the CIF-SS initial playoff rankings that game out the day prior, which had Wilson at 22, 50 spots ahead of Poly.
“We have a chip on our shoulder now, like there’s no respect for us,” said Aquiningoc. “You got to put some respect on our name, and after this win, I think we’ll get a little bit more.”
The two teams will play again in October to close the regular season, in what will likely be the most anticipated match of the year. The two teams shared the Moore League title last year, and they’re both headed to Las Vegas for the Durango Tournament this weekend.
Poly was led by Talaga’s 14 kills and eight digs, Dear’s 13 kills and four blocks, seven digs and five aces from Mercado, and four kills from Holder. Wilson was led by 16 kills from Adams, plus five kills and seven aces from Sadie Calderone.
