With just one day left in the first round, the Moore League boys’ volleyball standings are logjammed at the top. Long Beach Poly lost to Millikan earlier this week and Lakewood defeated Wilson, then on Thursday afternoon Poly rebounded with a four-set win over the Bruins, 25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 25-17.
That creates a three-way tie atop the league standings with Poly, Millikan, and Lakewood all holding only one loss, and Wilson right behind with two losses. The Jackrabbits and Lancers will play Tuesday to see who’s tied with Millikan for first-place after the first round.
“We really needed this,” said Poly coach Vuthy Cheav, whose team has played well in tournaments so far this year but dropped their match with Millikan on Tuesday. “We’re playing well, but we have to win when it counts.”
The Jackrabbits were the more energetic team and were dynamic defensively. The Jackrabbits ran a one-setter offense with Nathan Cheav setting, allowing them to keep Andrew Tigas at libero, where he shone with 13 digs (as well as a couple of on-the-spot backsets). Cheav was stellar running the show for Poly, setting up lanky outside Jake Miller for 16 kills; Miller also had three blocks.
“Our energy has been on and off this year and we turned it on today,” said Miller. “We’ve got to keep it up from here on out.”
Wilson got a strong match from Payne Lounsbery, who had nine kills and 14 assists, as well as 15 kills from Nick Campbell.
“It’s a little frustrating for us, they out played us,” said Wilson coach Jeremy Cook, whose team lost to Lakewood earlier this week after having swept Millikan in the first week. “They played with really good energy, we took too many plays off.”
