The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Looking to stay in striking decent for first place, the Long Beach Wilson girls volleyball team got off to a slow start Tuesday afternoon as Millikan gave the Bruins their best shot early on.
The Rams led wire-to-wire to take a dominating 25-15 win in the first set, however, Adams and the Bruins regrouped to defeat Millikan 15-25, 25-15, 26-24, 25-21.
“I think definitely going into the second set, we kind of had a talk about how we just needed more aggression,” Adams said. “We were kind of letting them roll over us a little bit because we weren’t being aggressive and going for balls. So I think we just kind of had to talk about being confident.”
With a mix of Wilson errors, Millikan took advantage of the miscues and got some solid play from Paige Mundon and Aubrey Greene to jump out to a 6-3 lead. The Rams kept the momentum going with a couple of aces from Bethany Arnold as they went on to take the first set, 25-15.
“I think it was just a lot of unforced errors again, that was kind of the theme,” Millikan coach Antoinette De la Espriella said. “And we knew going into this game, whoever could serve and pass well was going to win, and the runs that they went on was us not being able to secure the pass on that first ball side out.”
Wilson’s Milan Lewis had two quick kills to start the second and after an ace from Sadie Calderon – the Bruins jumped out to a 5-0 lead early on. The Bruins kept pushing in as Adams had back-to-back kills to push the lead to 8-1.
Millikan cut the lead to 18-9 later in the set, but that was the closest the Rams would get as the Bruins took the set 25-15 to even the match.
“It just feels great just seeing them play point by point instead of us worrying about mistakes,” Wilson coach Gersain Pineda said.
In the third set, Millikan went toe-to-toe with the Bruins as each team took turns throwing haymakers as they looked to take a 2-1 lead.
After six ties, Wilson took a 23-19 lead but the Rams kept battling to tie the match at 23. The Bruins eventually were able to hold off Millikan to take a 2-1 lead with a 26-24 lead.
“It’s always hard work to get a win, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Pineda said Were going to work hard.”
In the fourth set, Adams got the Bruins going as Wilson took an early 4-1 lead. Millikan’s Greene and company continued to battle, but weren’t able to cut the lead anymore after trailing 20-18 in the fourth set.
Adams finished the game off with her 19th kills to take the match.
Wilson hosts jordan on Thursday while Millikan takes on Compton.
