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.
Long Beach Poly got off to a bit of a slow start in their home playoff opener against Woodcrest Christian. But the Jackrabbits (25-12) brought their energy up and were able to assert themselves in a 25-22, 25-23, 25-21 sweep.
Poly now advances to the second round of the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs on Saturday, where they’d either host Torrance or travel to Downey depending on the results of a Thursday match between those two schools.
The Jackrabbits trailed 12-7 in the first set before turning things around thanks to a long service run from Hannah Ballungay, which included two aces. They went on to take the first set as they closed on an 18-10 run.
“I think we were just over anxious,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “We’ve been waiting for almost a week and I think the moment kind of got the best of us in the first set. But we were able to settle in a little bit and run our offense.”
That meant getting good passes, and setters Ballungay and Lauren Foster-Elisara putting it up for middle blockers Kristen Dear and Layla Moore. Dear had 12 kills on .800 hitting in the match, while Moore had seven on .455 hitting. Moore added six blocks while Dear added three as the duo owned the middle of the net and, ultimately, the match.
Dear said that when Aquiningoc called timeout with his team trailing 12-7, he didn’t have a big speech for them.
“Gerald places on emphasis on our energy being team-led, he doesn’t like to talk a lot of it’s not technical advice,” she said. “We needed to bring that energy out of ourselves and we understood that if we didn’t step on the gas, this was gonna be our first and last playoff round.”
Aquiningoc said that he’s a strong believer in players being responsible for their own motivation, especially as the season gets longer.
“Good teams have good coaches, great teams have great team leadership,” he said. “It’s about them taking accountability–players leading is what makes the difference in the playoffs. If we as coaches have to initiate everything that’s a problem. Tonight every time we had a timeout, one of our leaders had something to say. So that was a great sign.”
The Jackrabbits served and passed well, as Ballungay, Sydney Mercado, and Foster-Elisara combined for seven aces. They also spread the ball, with Aleeya Salima putting up eight kills and 12 digs; Cedra Talaga and Larissa Foster-Elisara had six kills each. Emma Holder had seven kills on .429 hitting and continued to come on strong as a right side assassin for the Jackrabbits.
