The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
It was shaping up to be one of those nights for the Long Beach Poly girls’ volleyball team. Battling injury and illness, the Jackrabbits got out to a flat start against Yorba Linda in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs. They dropped the first set and were in danger of losing the second, trailing 23-22 when head coach Gerald Aquiningoc pointed at JV call-up Ellie Iamaleava and subbed her in. She responded with back-to-back blocks to give her team the lead as they went on to win the second set and the match, 18-25, 25-23, 25-14, 26-24.
Iamaleava was one of two JV call-ups to step into critical roles for Poly tonight, as she finished with five kills and three blocks. Setter Mina Orbiso also had 15 assists in a 6-2 system, as both were in their first varsity action with the Jackrabbits.
“They’ve been practicing with us, doing double duty practices all season,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “We’re very familiar with what they can do, and it’s honestly like, next girl up. We have Plans A, B, C, D, and tonight we had to work all the way through. I’m really proud of them being able to come in here and execute.”
Aquiningoc said he was not planning on playing the lower-level players in the match, but felt pushed to by circumstances.
“Things weren’t working and I figured, if we’re going to go out, we have to exhaust all the options,” he said. “We can’t leave anything, no sub unturned. Ellie is a sparkplug too–we were really flat and we were looking for something, and we know that we have three or four players who give us that big spark when they do something. We were looking for something like that and it worked.”
The Jackrabbits looked flat in the first set, as they saw a 14-11 lead evaporate as part of a long service run by Yorba Linda’s Kyndra Long, who had two aces as part of an 8-0 run that would put Yorba Linda up 23-16. Poly’s usually boisterous crowd was silent and its usually rowdy bench was subdued as Yorba Linda took the first set 25-18, closing on a 13-2 run to do so.
The second set was a battle but Poly led 20-18 after an ace by Keola Aquiningoc, a lead that would ultimately disappear as they fell behind 23-22, prompting Aquiningoc to call a timeout, and to put Ellie Iamaleava in.
The sophomore said she did her best to stay locked in while on the bench.
“The entire game I was trying to stay ready, I was trying to expect to go in and fill a spot if they needed,” said Ellie.
McKennah Iamaleava led the way for the Jackrabbits with a stat-stuffing line of 20 kills, 18 digs, and two blocks. She was also cheering more loudly for her little sister than she was for herself.
“I’m very proud of my sister, coming in from the bench is hard and her play really energized us,” she said.
That energy carried over into the third set in a huge way as Poly led 22-4 after Ellie Iamaleava had a 5-0 service run that included an ace, and Cheeky Talaga had a 10-0 service run with three aces. The Jackrabbits went on to win easily but faced some turbulence in the fourth set.
Yorba Linda led 21-16 and looked well on their way to forcing a fifth set. But a kill by London Caldwell set up a Lauren Foster service run that flipped the score.
Foster had three consecutive aces as part of a 7-0 run that put Poly up 23-21. The Jackrabbits yielded three points to fall behind 24-23, but two errors by Yorba Linda put Poly back on top, and they grabbed match point on an by Cika Talaga.
The Jackrabbits hit just .141 in the match as they had multiple starters hit a negative number. Cika Talaga had 10 kills but 11 errors to go with them as she battled illness. After McKenna Iamaleava’s 20 and Talaga’s 10 kills, Ellie Iamaleava was third on the team with five, and she did it with a .417 hitting clip.
Cika Talaga had 16 digs and Aquiningoc had 11. Foster led the way at setter with 21 assists and seven digs.
Yorba Linda was led by Kelsey Pastian’s 14 kills.
The Jackrabbits (27-9) will advance to the second round of the Division 2 playoffs, as they travel to Corona Centennial on Thursday.
