Millikan Girls Beach Volleyball ended their Moore League season tied for second place with an overall record of 9-6. The Rams continued on to CIF and beat their rivals Long Beach Poly in the semifinals on Wednesday, April 29, granting them a spot at CIF Division 3 finals on Saturday, May 2 at 10:30a.m. at LBCC. Throughout CIF, they won against Chiminade High School 5-0 in the first round, San Juan Hills 4-1 in the second round and South Torrance in the Quarterfinals 3-2.
“I think they’ve done incredible and had a lot of fun out on the court,” says head coach Antoinette De La Espriella. She continues,“We have improved in finding new ways to be better partners with various people, developing a strategy against each opponent and learning about different ways to play.”
According to Coach Anto, standout players like Bella Bonales, Sarah Thaut, Bethany Arnold and Aubrey Greene are returners who show consistent improvement; while newcomers Lucy Morris and Estela Lopez have been developing better skills to contribute to the team. Wilson High School was the Rams biggest competitor, playing them twice with two different lineups, but lots of improvement despite losing both games.
Before beating them in CIF, they lost to Long Beach Poly the first time, but came prepared the second and third time around. Hannah Martin is a freshman in COMPASS and shared how she felt before their second game against the Jackrabbits, “I feel really confident and we’ve practiced a lot to prepare for this.” This allowed the Rams to be tied for second place in the Moore League with Poly.
“I personally am satisfied with how we played this season. I think we all did really well skill-wise and communication-wise,” adds Martin. “My highlight of the season was getting partnered with Olivia because we played really well together.”
Olivia Vits, a junior in QUEST, says, “as a team we played really strong and we all got a lot better this year. We had way more practices and a lot more time together as a team which was good for the team.” With the program only having Varsity and JV teams, Coach Anto hopes to expand and recruit to be able to add a Frosh/Soph team next season.
Make sure to stay updated with their CIF progress and what’s to come from the Beach Volleyball program!
