Long Beach Poly junior Cedra Talaga recently committed to continue her volleyball career at the University of Illinois. Talaga is one of Southern California’s top players in both the elite club world with Mizuno Long Beach as well as on the high school scene with Long Beach Poly.
Talaga helped lead the Jackrabbits to a CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship last year as a sophomore, earning All-CIF honors as one of only six 9th/10th graders to receive that recognition in the top three divisions.
“Timing wise I wanted to commit before or right after JOs (Junior Olympics) to give myself more time,” said Talaga. “Their team culture was everything for me, that’s something I really look for in a program. Academics was also really important and they have a really good business program, which is something I want to go into.”
Talaga said she met the Illinois coaches at the USA national team develop training series and quickly hit it off.
“The coaching staff is great and it’s obvious that they really care about the team culture and building that family feel,” she said.
Talaga joins a proud Long Beach volleyball tradition. She will go on to sign a college scholarship as a libero, but she’s a dominant outside hitter on her high school team. Lakewood alum Tyler Jackson did the same thing for the Lancers before becoming an outstanding libero at Long Beach State, and it’s been a time-honored tradition locally. Talaga’s outside hitter teammate at Poly, McKenna Iamaleava, will likely make a similar transition in college.
“It helps with ball control and passing to have hitters who are also college-level liberos,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. It’s a tradition that’s helped give Long Beach volleyball an identity of scrappy, hard-to-beat teams over the span of several decades.
Aquiningoc said what’s been most impressive about Talaga as he’s coached her the last three years isn’t her skills, though, it’s her attitude on and off the court.
“She’s a great leader, and she has been from a very young age,” he said.
Talaga is hoping to help lead the Jackrabbits to another Moore League and CIF-SS title this year during her junior campaign, and knows she has a lot more to accomplish at the high school level, including playing with her younger sister Cadence, who’s on the varsity team at Poly this year as a freshman. But she’s also confident that she’ll be ready to make the leap to Illinois and a very different kind of Winter.
“My parents raised me to be independent and that’s a big reason why I chose Illinois,” she said. “There’s more than just California, there’s 49 other states. My Mom and Dad were definitely sad, I think they were hoping I’d stay closer at UCLA or USC but I was like, ‘No, sorry.’”
Talaga also credited her parents with instilling confidence in her to step away from home to continue her playing career in a few years.
“They’re my rock,” she said. “They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, and they’re where all my confidence comes from.”
