The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Thursday was Opening Night in Moore League girls’ volleyball, and the Wilson Bruins got off on the right foot with a 25-7, 25-23, 25-23 victory over the visiting Lakewood Lancers.
Set one definitely looked dominant from the Bruins early on with a 11-2 run early in set one and that momentum carried through the entire set with Wilson taking the opening set, 25-7.
However, the momentum completely changed when Lakewood took an early 5-3 lead in set two, and the Lancers bench got reason to cheer.
Wilson junior Simrin Adams and Lakewood freshman Trinity Tagaloasa were crushing the ball back and forth in set two with both of them combining for six kills in the tightly contested game.
Adams and Tagaloasa both led their teams in kills as Taglosa ended the game with six kills and one block for the Lancers. Adams had a game-high 14 kills, one assist and one block.
The Stanford commit helped the Bruins pull away with three consecutive kills late in set two.
“Simrin’s probably one of the better players in the league, in our area too, so it was more about trying to slow her down just a little bit to make our lives a little bit easier,” Lakewood head coach Adam Wadley said.
Even though Lakewood fell short in set two 25-23, a Lakewood player was heard telling the team to “bring that same energy” they brought during set two onto the next set, which the Lancers were able to do.
With 16 lead changes, set three was just as intense all the way through. Lakewood pulled away 7-3 early on, but were unable to maintain that advantage.
Adams’ had four kills near the halfway point of set three, which helped give the slight edge to Wilson.
“I feel like when we kind of get a little hesitant and we start letting the other team back in and get neck and neck with us, I try to go on my way and tell us, ‘Hey, give me the ball, I’m gonna put it away,’” Adams explained. “So I think having the confidence that I could put the ball away really helps the team get more momentum.”
With the score 23-23 in set three, Lakewood bobbled a pass and then a Wilson block ended the match, with the Bruins winning 25-23 in the third for a 3-0 victory.
“[Adams] is always a good hitter, [she] always gives us points when we need them, the ball usually goes to her when she’s in the front row,” Bruins head coach Gersain Pineda said. “Overall, I think I could use her at any spot at any time and she can put the ball away.”
It wasn’t all bad for Lakewood as they shined defensively with 10 total blocks, which helped them inch closer on sets two and three.
Pineda said one lesson the Bruins learned was on positional adjustments with adapting to certain players and defenses on the court.
“When I put certain players in different positions, I think the team falls into, ‘Okay, we’re nervous’ so if we are more confident on adjusting, I think the game would have gotten a lot better,” he said. “As a team, we’re still progressing, we’re still learning, and I think further into the season, we’ll be a little better adjusting. Overall, I think we did good with the outcome we had.”
Waldey said errors slowed the Lancers down during the first set, but noticed his team played cleaner volleyball in the second and third set.
“We’re a really young team, we have four girls that are 15 years or younger so the first set jitters for sure got to them,” Wadley said. “Once we were able to settle down, I think we played some really good volleyball and so I’m happy how we progressed after that first set.”
Wilson is 7-4 in the season and will play Sunny Hills at home on Sept. 2 before hosting Millikan two days later. Meanwhile Lakewood falls to 0-8 and will have a league matchup against Compton on Sept. 2.
