The562’s Poly coverage for the 2026-27 school year is sponsored by Long Beach Poly alums Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
Long Beach Poly girls’ volleyball coach Gerald Aquiningoc could be forgiven for resting on his laurels for a few minutes. Since he took over the Jackrabbits, the team has won three straight Moore League titles, including back-to-back undefeated league titles, plus a CIF-SS championship in Division 4 in 2024. In the meantime he also founded a new club volleyball program and was hired as an assistant coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills.
During a recent preseason interview, however, it didn’t sound like he’s planning on resting on his laurels for even a second. Aquiningoc said that while he’s happy with his team’s achievements, he’s not satisfied.
“With all those things being said, there’s still a lot to accomplish,” he said. “When I first came in and Sonya (Talaga) came in as my assistant, we had a four-year coach to get Long Beach Poly back to competing at a high level in Southern California. Yes we’ve won three Moore League in a row and a CIF title–we won Division 3 for CIF and then last year we were in Division 2 and in the semis and in Division 1 for state. So we didn’t win a CIF title but we improved the program because we’re competing at a higher level.”
The Jackrabbits have big goals for this season, which makes sense–because the Jackrabbits also look like the strongest squad that Aquiningoc has coached in his Poly tenure.
“I agree, from top to bottom this is going to be our strongest team,” he said. “We’re really solid, there’s depth in each position, it’s our strongest all-around team. It’s also a special group for me because it’s the group that I came in with, my first full freshman to senior class.”
The Jackrabbits boast several college commits in their senior class, including reigning Moore League Player of the Year McKennah Iamaleava (UC Irvine), Cika Talaga (Illinois), and Allison Wetteland (Wesleyan). Iamaleava and Talaga will be the captains along with fellow senior star Aleeya Salima, who is weighing college options and said she’s fired up for her senior season.
“It’s super exciting, there’s all these emotions as a senior, really excited but also a little bit sad,” she said. “This is going to be our best year and I’m excited for us to leave a legacy. Our biggest weakness as a team is, honestly, I don’t think there’s a weakness. Honestly the hardest thing is our depth chart is stacked and so there’s so many people to try and get on the court.”
The team is running a 5-1 with sophomore setter Mina Orbiso running the show until a transfer setter becomes eligible at which point they’ll transition into a 6-2. Aquiningoc is high on Orbiso and said she has a high ceiling at the position–Orbiso finds herself in a great spot with a ton of good options to put the ball away.
Outside are Iamaleava and Salima, both of whom are powerful arms who can contribute in a variety of other ways, too. Iamaleava proved herself the best in the city last year and spent the latter part of the Summer playing internationally for American Samoa, and Aquiningoc said he’s looking forward to seeing what she does this year.
“She’s super special,” he said. “She’s a ‘lead by example’ player, a silent assassin. You’re going to get every stat from her. I think she’ll be the best player in the league again this year like last year.”
On the right side Avery Milburn is a junior standout for Poly that is powerful but also skilled enough to play all the way around. Aquiningoc said she’s also the team’s alternate captain with an eye towards leading the team next season.
The team is stacked at Libero and DS, with the Illinois commit Talaga as well as super sophomores Cadence “Cheeky” Talaga and Keola Aquiningoc, and senior Mariel Palloran.
“We’ve got good servers and passers who can step in, and those players are all experienced in big games as well,” said Aquiningoc.
Around the league, Aquiningoc said he expect Millikan to be the top challenger in the Moore League and praised their hire of Gus Tuaniga as their new coach.
“That was a great hire, I think it’s going to be fun and bring back the competitiveness there,” he said.
He was also happy with the Moore League change schedule-wise with Compton and Cabrillo departing, commenting that it allows the Jackrabbits to schedule better nonleague games in place of those routine sweeps.
“Bishop Montgomery, Orange Lutheran Los Al, Redondo Union–we’re playing teams in the same area as us instead of those games,” he said. “We get more competitive and we don’t have to lose practice days going to travel and play some of those teams.”
Salima said everything has lined up for she and her teammates to do something special this year.
“We’ve dominated all these years for Poly, but I really feel like this year is our breakthrough year,” she said.
