Crowds come out to support water polo at CCS
Despite losing at home 12-11 to No. 11 seed Woodside in the
opening round of the Central Coast Section playoffs last week, the
No. 6 seeded San Benito High girls water polo team is still holding
its head high
– and the Balers have reason to.
Crowds come out to support water polo at CCS
Despite losing at home 12-11 to No. 11 seed Woodside in the opening round of the Central Coast Section playoffs last week, the No. 6 seeded San Benito High girls water polo team is still holding its head high – and the Balers have reason to.
For starters, the Balers captured their first unshared league title for the first time since 2001 – the year the team’s head coach was a starter. And they did so by ousting perennial powerhouse Santa Catalina 11-8 in the TCAL Championship – despite competing without 10 starters from the previous year that were lost to graduation.
“The girls really stepped it up this year and they accomplished their goals,” head coach Lacey Sutton said. “We knew that the game against Woodside was going to be pretty tough, we had beat them twice before but I think they just wanted it more than us. Overall, we are happy with all of our accomplishments in the end.”
In an October 18 doubleheader at Woodside High, the Balers picked up a 12-8 and an 11-6 win over the Wildcats. With those wins under their belts coupled with the fact that the Balers this time would get to face the Wildcats at home seemingly gave San Benito a distinct advantage – that was the case until the Balers narrow pool was factored into the equation, according to Sutton.
“They have a huge pool and when we played them there we were able to take better advantage of our speed in the pool to take control of the game,” she said. “Our small pool sort of evened things out.”
Even with the small pool the Balers had the advantage of having a huge crowd on their side that engulfed the pool area.
“We had the biggest crowd that I have ever seen at a water polo game in my life,” said Sutton, who recently played at California State University – Monterey Bay. “I thought I was at a football game. I don’t think there was an empty seat in there.”
On Monday, the team will announce which of its 15 players made the TCAL’s All-League team. Two players that will not only make that prestigious list but one or the other are the odds-on favorites to win the league’s MVP award are Katie Buzzetta and Jaime Telles.
Buzzetta, the team’s two-meter hole set, led the Balers in scoring with 88 goals. Telles, a driver, led the Balers in assists (37), steals (109) and was second to Buzzetta in both scoring and shots on goal.
“Both of these seniors stepped it up all year and helped everyone on this team out,” Sutton said. “They were both team leaders.”
Next year, Telles and Buzzetta will be lost to graduation as well as four other senior players, but after losing 10 players last year to graduation Sutton wouldn’t be surprised to see other players step up their play to fill the voids and keep the winning tradition moving forward.
“We had only three returning starters this year and we won league so you never know,” Sutton said. “I think next year we’ll finish at least in the top two or three in league.”
Or, maybe in first…
