The Long Beach Poly girls’ volleyball team has been on the uptick this season. The Jackrabbits, reigning Moore League and CIF Southern Section Division 3 champions, are off to a strong start and when Monday’s inaugural CIF-SS rankings came out they were listed at No. 20. But Poly hadn’t yet faced a tough test in the Moore League heading into Tuesday evening’s meeting with longtime rival Lakewood.
They passed their first test with flying colors, sweeping the Lancers 25-8, 25-12, 25-17.
“It’s always a great win beating a rival,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “I know they’re young but for us, we wanted to make sure that no matter what, we upheld our standard on our side of the net, and I think we did that. When we’ve played big games this year, our execution has slipped in tight moments. I wanted to make sure we were foot on the gas, foot on the gas, foot on the gas tonight.”
The Jackrabbits certainly did that. The opening set saw the two teams tied at 3-3, but the Jackrabbits then closed on a 22-5 run that included lengthy service runs by McKennah Iamaleava and freshman Keola Napoleon Alvarez, who served up an 8-0 run to close the set that included three aces.
“Our service pressure is really important to us,” said Aquiningoc. “It neutralizes the other side and makes everything easier for us to play defense, and I think we’re really good at that.”
The Jackrabbits boast multiple college-level liberos in outside hitters Cika Talaga and Iamaleava, as well as freshman libero Cheeky Talaga. Coupled with high-flying big swings from Talaga and Iamaleava and the Jackrabbits’ right side hitters, it’s tough to put together runs against them. Poly had 41 digs in the match, with Cheeky Talaga recording 11 and seven players recording at least three digs.
“We feel like we have three liberos out there so there aren’t good options to serve to our back line,” said Cika Talaga.
That was on display in the Jackrabbits’ second set, which saw them go from 11-5 to fully in control with an 8-0 service run from Iamaleava, who had an ace in the run and passed exceptionally well out of the back with Cheeky Talaga, while Cika Talaga put down six kills in a row.
“We came out really strong and that’s our goal in every match,” said Cika Talaga. “We will always treat Lakewood and Poly as a rivalry match because of the history and I think that helped us today.”
The third set was more competitive, as Lakewood overcame a long Iamaleava service run to go on a 4-0 run of their own late in the frame with three kills by Jenna Smith consecutively
“I feel like that Poly environment got to us in that first set, a lot of our girls this is their first time playing here,” said Lakewood coach Adam Wadley. “So far this year we’ce done a good job of resetting and adjusting after tough losses–it’s just being patient and grinding it out and getting better.”
The biggest difference for the Jackrabbits this year is having Iamaleava on the court–a sentence that’s been said often at Poly. McKennah’s older siblings Matt, Nicaylah, and Nico all played volleyball at Poly. She transferred in last year with older brother Madden and younger sister Ninalei, but the three were ruled ineligible by the CIF-SS. This year, Madden has graduated and is with brother NIco at UCLA, while the Iamaleava sisters were declared eligible by the CIF-SS going forward.
“First of all, just being in Long Beach and playing at Poly, this is my home and my home city and I’ve been dying to play,” said McKennah Iamaleava. “I didn’t get to play last year and I’ve just been grinding and hungry for that, to be out there with the team. It means a lot to me.”
Iamaleava showed her well-rounded game in the win over Lakewood, with 13 kills on .550 hitting, five digs, and three aces. Cika Talaga had 16 kills on .636 hitting along with seven digs and an ace. Napoleon Alvarez also had three aces while Cheeky Talaga led all servers with five aces. Alison Wetteland had six kills in the match for Poly in the middle. Setters Hannah Ballungay (22 assists) and Lauren Foster (16) led an attack that hit at a .474 clip.
Lakewood was led by setter Mialani Mapu (14 assists) and libero Alizae Leilua (eight digs). The Lancers got two aces from Kerinne Martinson and five kills from Jenna Smith.
Lakewood (4-14, 1-2) will try to bounce back against Jordan this week while Poly (11-3, 4-0) remains tied with Wilson atop the Moore League standings. The Jackrabbits visit Millikan next Tuesday then host Wilson Wednesday in a pair of matches that will decide the top of the league standings at the midway point.
