The562’s coverage of high school volleyball in 2025 is brought to you by the MLP’s Bay Area Breakers.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
The dream of Long Beach Poly’s first Moore League championship in over a decade is finally feeling real.
The Jackrabbits took down the four–time repeat Moore League champions in Wilson on Tuesday afternoon, improving to a perfect 10-0 while keeping sole possession of the top spot in the Moore League with two games to play. Poly beat Wilson 25-17, 25-21, 25-17.
“It feels great. We’ve had our struggles against this team so it feels good.” said Poly coach Sidney Davidson. “Tonight, again, it was our senior leadership. These guys worked together during summer and they all had a goal and individually they all knew what they wanted. One of their major goals was to win the league and we knew we had to get past Wilson in order to do that.”
Poly will take on Lakewood on Thursday and end its season against Cabrillo after spring break. A win in either of those matches would clinch the Jackrabbits’ first Moore League title since 2014, the same year they last went undefeated.
“We’ve been working at this for four years and it feels so good,” added senior opposite Jackson Trunnelle. “To get the sweep over Wilson, I’ve never felt that as a player and it feels so good. All I know is that we have to bang these next two games out and we’ll be 12-0 champs.”
Trunnelle was one of the big contributors on Tuesday afternoon for what was a monstrous night from the Jackrabbits senior-led roster. Trunnelle had seven kills for Poly while outside-hitter Matt Tsao had ten, each hitting off of senior setter Ryder Tuaolo. Sophomore Nikkie Frank was the rare underclassman contributor with eight kills while middle KJ Hill added five.
“I like our team because we’re really well rounded,” said Tsao. “[Having so many seniors] has made this year felt a lot more special, and on top of that it made this game mean a lot more. This was our last time ever playing Wilson, our Moore League rival, so I think there was so much energy from that.”
Last year, the Jackrabbits shared the Moore League title with Wilson after splitting games with the Bruins in their regular season series. Poly was without setter Tuaolo during most of those matches, who was injured midway through one of the games against Wilson.
After the game, Tuaolo said that everything that happened last year made Tuesday afternoon’s win that much better.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “From pulling an injury midway through the game last year, it feels good to come back and get them and have a good game with all my players healthy. It makes it so much sweeter.”
As usual, Wilson was led by senior Marek Turner, who had a game-high 11 kills despite the tough loss. The UCLA commit has been a nightmare for his Moore League opponents through his senior campaign, but it was clear by the frustration on his face that Tuesday afternoon just wasn’t his day.
“We know Marek is a great player and we just wanted to make sure none of the other guys were getting hot,” said Davidson of his strategy against Turner. “There’s a couple of times we wanted to test him but of the time we wanted to keep the ball away from him.”
Wilson will hope for a pair of losses in the Jackrabbits’ final two games while they take on Cabrillo on Thursday. The Bruins will also have a tough matchup at Millikan when they return from break.
Long Beach Poly will look to head into break with an even greater undefeated record after facing off against Lakewood on Thursday. Their regular season finale is against Cabrillo is on April 21.
