Girls head into league with even record
With the entire coaching staff resigning at the beginning of the season, girls water polo has faced an exceptionally rocky start to the season.
“There have been difficulties because we had to take a 2-3 week break,” junior point Samantha Jew said.
This season has been more tumultuous than previous years, with the team adjusting to new head coach, Melanie Gonzales, after previous head coach Gary Cheever resigned shortly after taking on the position. Practices have been cut down significantly and are of notably less intensity.
In addition, there is a shortage of substitutes. As of right now, the team mostly relies on a rather transparent game strategy that depends on four core players–Samantha Jew, wings freshman Michelle Granados and junior Juliana Longoria, and junior goalie Nichole Arancibia—the team’s former set player.
The rest of the girls switch out throughout the game. Although a viable game plan, there are some difficulties.
“This is an obvious strategy and eventually the other team catches on,” Jew said. “This leads to them double/triple-teaming Jo and Michelle on offense, and water polo is a tiring sport.”
However, the Lady Brahmas have no intentions of backing down. Having already won their first league game against Wilson, the team is expecting to play with a relative success rate for the rest of the season.
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