{"id":217618,"date":"2026-03-13T04:51:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/217618\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T04:51:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:51:07","slug":"wilson-sweeps-shorthanded-millikan-in-cif-ss-championship-rematch-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/217618\/","title":{"rendered":"Wilson Sweeps Shorthanded Millikan In CIF-SS Championship Rematch \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a familiar setting Thursday at LBCC, as Millikan and Wilson met at the same site as last year\u2019s CIF-SS Division 2 beach volleyball championship for their first regular-season matchup since the Bruins won that title last May.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s rematch came on a hot 90-degree day at LBCC, but the result was the same for Wilson, as the Bruins outlasted a shorthanded Millikan team and the heat to sweep the Rams 5-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few girls that were really feeling the heat today but they just dug deep, and I\u2019m proud of them for overcoming that,\u201d said Wilson coach Jeremy Cook. \u201cEven though it was a sweep it didn\u2019t feel that close. Millikan is always good even being shorthanded today but you couldn\u2019t tell. I\u2019m impressed by them and I\u2019m super proud of my girls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The final match came down to Court 2, where Wilson\u2019s Ilya Alvarado and Jane Morrison were tied after a gritty 23-21 second-set win from Millikan\u2019s Johanna Swerdloff and Bella Bonales. Alvarado and Morrison then trailed for most of the third set before closing strong to secure Wilson\u2019s 5-0 sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually really fun at that moment and I really like it,\u201d Morrison said of being the last team standing. \u201cI think we were both really tired but when all of our teammates came over it kind of made my adrenaline go up and I think we started to feel hyped up with each point once they turned up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair have come a long way since their freshman and sophomore years, working their way up from Court 5 to Court 2. The duo finished last year on a 17-game win streak and have started this season 10-1, putting in work during the offseason with private lessons that helped prepare them for moments like Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being partners for so long and also being friends outside of volleyball we know how to communicate especially in heat when we don\u2019t want to talk,\u201d Alvarado added. \u201cWe know how each other plays and we feed off of each other\u2019s energy, so we\u2019re able to play better by supporting each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Court 1 featured the only true rematch from last May\u2019s CIF-SS championship, as Wilson\u2019s standout pair of Simrin Adams and Sadie Calderone faced Millikan\u2019s Sarah Thaut and Bethany Arnold. Despite a strong close to the second set from Thaut and Arnold, Wilson secured the win at set point as Calderone sent a swing to the right corner for the 21-15, 21-19 victory.<\/p>\n

The win for Adams and Calderone marks their 11th straight victory to open up the season as the pair continues to make an argument as one of the best in Southern California. Adams is a Stanford commit while Calderone is committed to play at San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a luxury that almost no other coach has when you have that pair on Court 1,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIt gets close but you just kinda know they\u2019re going to find a way because they always do. They\u2019re winners and there\u2019s a reason why they\u2019re going to be playing at the next level. Credit to Sarah and Bethany because they gave them a battle and they\u2019re such a great team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from that pair on Court 1, Millikan only had one other court with its usual starting partners together, as the Rams had to fill in for several players out for the day. Ella Reyes and Lucy Morris stepped up to Court 4 after typically playing on Court 5, while every other Millikan pair had no more than one match of experience together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think today everyone did a good job falling into their roles, but it just took a little too long to get to that final point,\u201d said Millikan coach Antoinette de la Espriella. \u201cI\u2019m playing the long game with this team because I know we\u2019re going to get enough wins to get into CIF, so while the little losses like this suck, it\u2019s a moment for me to teach these girls to be mentally resilient. Like we had three courts go to game three, and we have to close those outs.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those other three-set matches came on Court 5, as Wilson\u2019s Charlie Ginsberg and Alex Beverly came back from an 11-21 first-set loss to complete the reverse sweep. Peyton Agura and Madison Castillo also closed out a third-set victory, while Wilson\u2019s most dominant match came from Dani Dobie and Sage Darling in a 21-13, 21-6 sweep on Court 4.<\/p>\n

Both teams will be back in action Tuesday, as Wilson gears up for a tough matchup against Long Beach Poly before Millikan faces Lakewood.<\/p>\n

Final Results:<\/p>\n

Court 1: Simrin Adams\/Sadie Calderone (WIL) def. Sarah Thaut\/Bethany Arnold (MIL) 21-15, 21-19<\/p>\n

Court 2: Ilya Alvarado\/Jane Morrison (WIL) def. Johanna Swerdloff\/Bella Bonales (MIL) 21-19, 21-23, 15-11<\/p>\n

Court 3: Peyton Agura\/Madison Castillo (WIL) def. Madison Jones\/Samantha Guzman (MIL) 21-10, 8-21, 15-8<\/p>\n

Court 4: Dani Dobie\/Sage Darling (WIL) def. Ella Reyes\/Lucy Morris (MIL) 21-13, 21-6<\/p>\n

Court 5: Charlie Ginsberg\/Alex Beverly (WIL) def. Hannah Martin\/Maddie Gray (MIL) 11-21, 21-10, 15-5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-217618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217618","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=217618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}