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.
Just two days after the Long Beach Poly girls’ volleyball team captured the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship, the Jackrabbits’ magical ride ran out of steam. A gassed Poly squad was edged in a five-set thriller by a hungry Coronado team from the San Diego Section. The Jackrabbits battled through fatigue, injury and dead legs but ultimately fell 19-25, 25-19, 25-27, 25-22, 15-11.
“We’re banged up and we were out of gas,” admitted Poly coach Gerald Aquiningoc. “Lot of fatigue and injuries that the girls have been dealing with the last few weeks just trying to make it last as long as possible. I’m proud of them for competing today.”
The Jackrabbits (29-8) took down Redondo Union in an emotional five-set thriller on Saturday in the championship match, and had to deal with a quick turnaround for Tuesday’s state playoff opener against Coronado (35-5). The Islanders last played a week ago, falling to Cathedral Catholic.
Coronado was led by the Proctor sisters, junior outside Ashlynn and sophomore setter Brooke. Both elite beach and indoor players, Ashlynn is committed to Stanford for beach volleyball and is on the USA youth national beach team. Ashlynn had 28 kills and five blocks in the win for the Islanders.
The Jackrabbits battled but were visibly flat, with multiple service errors at the end of the third and fourth sets, and a season-high 31 errors to 56 kills with a hitting percentage of .151.
Poly was led by 18 kills and 11 digs from Kenna Iamaleava, 16 digs from Cika Talaga, 12 kills and seven digs from Aleeya Salima, and 11 kills from Avery Milburn. Middle Allison Wetteland had nine kills.
It was a tough end to an incredible ride for Poly’s senior class, which includes several multi-year starters. Those Jackrabbits won four straight Moore League titles, and two CIF-SS championships in the last three years–half of Poly’s four total CIF-SS titles in the sport.
“I’m just extremely proud, man,” said Aquiningoc. “This is the best group I’ve coached. I tell them that every day, I tell them how special they are and how much they mean to me and how much they’ve done for this program. They’re leaving an amazing legacy behind. The CIF championships, they won six travel tournaments too–they’re just a special group. The real special thing is that everybody’s family. You have sisters, cousins, our daughters are on this team. It’s super super special. It’s like magic, what’s inside there, you gotta be around to see it. It’s special–I’m happy they ended on a CIF title. While our competitiveness is super disappointed, we just had no more gas left in the tank.”
