The562’s coverage of high school volleyball in 2026 is brought to you by the MLP’s Bay Area Breakers.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2026-27 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The Long Beach Poly girls’ volleyball team made a statement in their first-round CIF-SS Division 2 playoff match against Campbell Hall. Playing against a solid Vikings squad the No. 2-seeded Jackrabbits announced themselves as contenders with a sweep victory of the visitors, 25-17, 25-23, 25-14.
The Jackrabbits (27-7, 8-0) never trailed in the match, used only one timeout, and now advance to the Division 2 quarterfinals next Tuesday on the road at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. By advancing to the Division 2 quarters, the Jackrabbits have also clinched a berth in the CIF State playoffs.
“For the first round, I thought that we handled our emotions well,” said Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “The focus of the last couple practices was to control our emotions and not play too high. When we do that we can make some uncharacteristic errors.”
Poly piled up nine aces but weren’t as dominant from the back line as they’ve often been this year, letting the Vikings operate in system much of the evening.
“I wasn’t really too happy with our service pressure today, even though probably stat-wise it looked good,” said Aquiningoc.
The Jackrabbits jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the first set, a 12-6 lead in set two, and a 12-5 lead in set three. The Vikings did challenge Poly in the second set as they pulled to within a point twice at 22-1 and 23-22, but the Jackrabbits pulled away on a kill by Avery Milburn and another by McKenna Iamaleava.
Poly was led by 13 kills from Saleema and 12 by Iamaleava.
“Aleeya played really well tonight, I was really happy for her,” said Aquiningoc.
Saleema said the team’s focus was on staying even and measured throughout the match.
“We came out strong, that second set we got a little caught up emotionally, but tomorrow is another chance to come out to practice and get better,” she said. “I thought we controlled our emotions really well overall.”
Cheeky Talaga had three aces and Cika Talaga had a pair, while Salima, Mina Orbiso, and Keola Napoleon Alvarez each had one. Middle blocker Allison Wetteland had a strong game with three blocks.
Aquiningoc said that it’s important to not just focus on technique when playoff time comes.
“At this time of the year the emotional part of it is the most important part,” he said. “So you’re correcting in practice and then the game time you’re just encouraging and pushing them forward.”
