LONG BEACH \u2013 In the cold and very windy conditions, the Warren High School beach volleyball team battled courageously but fell just short with a 3-2 nonleague loss in the opening match of the season against host Millikan Tuesday (February 10) at the Rosies Dog Beach Courts in Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Millikan advanced to the CIF Division 3 Championship and finished as runner ups last season.<\/p>\n
Downey, which was competing in its second nonleague match, opened with a 3-2 win at home over Canyon of Anaheim, Monday (Feb. 9) and lost to host Long Beach Poly, 5-0, Tuesday (Feb. 10).<\/p>\n
Under the guidance of varsity coach and Warren alum Kendall Sonico, the Bears are off to start another season.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoaching beach volleyball here feels a bit like coming home\u2014 just with more sunscreen and sand,\u201d said Sonico, who also coaches the frosh-soph team and assists on varsity during the indoor season. \u201cThis is my third-year coaching beach volleyball and my fifth-year coaching and being part of the volleyball program overall at Warren.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sonico was a DIII athlete at Kean University in New Jersey, where she played indoor all four years while earning a degree in International Business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen first-hand how powerful these experiences can be,\u201d added Sonico. \u201cWe\u2019re proud of what we\u2019ve accomplished so far, but we\u2019re focused on what\u2019s ahead. This group is motivated, energetic, and ready to compete\u2014and if last season taught us anything, it\u2019s that every point matters, and this team is always up for the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The varsity roster includes nine seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, and one freshman. \u201cIt\u2019s a group that brings a strong mix of leadership, experience, and fresh energy,\u201d Sonico said.<\/p>\n
Assisting Sonico, along with their duties with the boys indoor team in the spring, is Scott Lane (Head Indoor coach) and Jessie Holder.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they aren\u2019t with me out there every day, but working with them in indoor and having them as a support system is greatly appreciated,\u201d Sonico said. \u201cCoaching with coach Lane and coach Holder has been great these past years and happy that we work well as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the match against Millikan, which was played on the beach with multiple schools competing against each other, the 1\u2019s (Delaney Holder\/Izel Baltazar) won their match 21-14, 21-12 along with the 5\u2019s (Delilah Serrano\/Kamila Pelayo), 26-24, 21-17.<\/p>\n
Losing in straight sets were the 2\u2019s (Annamarie Ramirez\/Amanda Mota), 5-21, 11-21, 3\u2019s (Avery Lorberter\/Nalah Harris), 13-21, 8-21 and 4\u2019s (Anida Krnic\/Daisy Gonzalez), 14-21, 17-21.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was different,\u201d said Holder of the cold and wind. \u201cWe never played under these circumstances. It changed how we would serve and how high we would pass and set each other. The ball would move a lot more than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baltazar added, \u201cWe kind of used the wind to our advantage too,\u201d she said. \u201cThey (Millikan) were good and very smart in how they swung. We were able to read them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baltazar, who has been on the varsity for four years, also said of the team this coming season, \u201cI think we\u2019re definitely stronger and I think we\u2019re going to do very good this season and will continue training and continue doing our very best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, the team advanced to the quarterfinals in CIF Division 3 and came within two points of advancing to the semifinals.<\/p>\n
With the score tied, 2-2, they lost in the fifth set by two points to Campbell Hall.<\/p>\n
All of the beach players also play indoor volleyball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe seniors have helped set the tone for the program, modeling commitment and resilience, while the younger players continue to step up and rise to the challenge that beach volleyball demands,\u201d Sonico said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to work with athletes who care deeply about improving and competing the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur beach program has continued to grow each season, both in numbers and in results. We currently have 34 girls in the program. Last season marked another big step forward as we advanced to the quarterfinals, where we battled Campbell Hall in a hard-fought match. While the loss was tough, it was also a clear reminder of how far this program has come\u2014each year, we\u2019ve moved further in the playoffs, and that steady progress is something the girls and I take great pride in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH \u2013 In the cold and very windy conditions, the Warren High School beach volleyball team battled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-175312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}