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ALISO VIEJO >> The Aliso Niguel girls volleyball squad overcame a dilatory commencement to bushed Long Beach Poly successful 4 sets Thursday successful the archetypal circular of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 playoffs astatine Aliso Niguel High.
The top-seeded Wolverines bushed the Jackrabbits 21-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-20.
Aliso Niguel (22-4) tied San Clemente for archetypal spot successful the South Coast League during the regular season. They some had 7-1 league records and bushed each different once, but San Clemente won a coin flip to interruption the necktie and coiled up being selected to the Division 1 playoffs.
Long Beach Poly (8-17) finished successful 3rd spot successful the Moore League down Lakewood, 1 of the apical seeds successful Division 1, and Wilson.
Poly came retired with a batch of vigor and began the lucifer connected an 8-3 run, and that prompted Aliso to instrumentality a timeout. Adonia Faumuina, who has committed to USC, had 3 aces successful the archetypal acceptable and the set-clinching termination to springiness Poly the archetypal set.
Aliso Niguel took implicit the lucifer from determination and dominated the adjacent 2 sets. The Wolverines led by arsenic galore arsenic 15 points successful the 2nd acceptable and they were uncovering holes successful the mediate of Poly’s defense.
“We had to lucifer their energy. They (Long Beach Poly) came successful fearless and assertive and we had to alteration however we responded to it,” Aliso Niguel manager Richie Whiting said. “Once we commencement playing our volleyball, we are truly hard to beat.”
The 3rd acceptable was much of the aforesaid with Aliso exploiting weaknesses successful Poly’s defense. Junior extracurricular hitter Eva Travis, who leads the squad with 103 kills and 15 aces connected the season, had an ace successful the acceptable and the past point.
Poly fought hard successful the past acceptable and was wrong 3 points for astir of it. Josephine Fuamato deed the shot good successful the acceptable and had a important dig.
Faumuina was each implicit the tribunal and often had a termination to extremity an Aliso rally.
“You conscionable look wherever she is and effort to support the shot distant from there,” Whiting said of Faumuina. “She tin play setter, hitter, defender, she is unreal. She’s a precise awesome player.”
Aliso Niguel’s hitters and blockers were connected apical of their crippled the full match. Kendra Duffey was effectual astatine the nett and the blocking portion of Travis and Brooke Pattschull made it hard for Poly to people successful the mediate sets.
After a Poly timeout successful the 4th game, the Jackrabbits had a nett usurpation and faced lucifer constituent astatine 24-20. Wolverines other hitter Madyson Smith made the match-winning termination to nonstop Aliso to the 2nd round.
Whiting believes that ending the regular play with a nonaccomplishment to San Clemente mightiness person helped the squad refocus and hole for competitory matches.
“Going to San Clemente undefeated and losing the past lucifer enactment things successful position that we request to larn however to woody with unit and energy,” Whiting said. “Those are things we worked connected and present we are putting it into action.”
Aliso Niguel volition question to play Rancho Cucamonga connected Saturday. Rancho Cucamonga finished the regular play 2nd successful the Baseline League and swept Esperanza connected Thursday.
The Wolverines are 0-2 against Rancho Cucamonga with 1 of those losses coming successful the 2016 Division 1 playoffs.
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