Aliso Niguel High School’s girls volleyball team has officially finished their 2023 South Coast League season and are all set to compete in CIF.
Head Coach Richie Whiting did state at the beginning of the year that she believed her team was capable of winning another League championship again for themselves.
For this season, according to Coach Whiting, “We’ve been playing in a lot of tournaments and our schedule has been strong.”
The girls have competed in a total of 24 games so far. Out of those 24 games, the ANHS girls volleyball team holds a current record of 12 wins and 12 losses. Eight of these games are South Coast League games.
When asked about her worries for these games, Team Captain Riley Barr (12), said “I am worried about letting my team down.”
The girls did have a rocky start to their League competition as they lost their first game. On Sept. 12 at ANHS’ courts, the girls lost to the Dana Hills High Dolphins. While the Wolverines were unable to win any matches, the Dana Hills team won three.
The team was able to turn it all around when they played against the Tesoro High Titans on Sept. 19. That night, they secured a huge victory over Tesoro with a final box score of 3-0.
They continued their winning streak with another win only two days later against the San Clemente Tristans with a score of 3-1.
Unfortunately, they broke their streak when the team headed down to San Juan Hills High School and lost to the Stallions. In this game, the team was able to win one of the matches, while the Stallions won the other three matches.
Next, the girls went up against Dana Hills High again for another shot at victory against them. Sadly, the Wolverines were defeated once again. This time, Aliso Niguel won two matches, wheras Dana Hills won three matches.
The girls volleyball team then played Tesoro High for a second time and were able to defeat them twice in one season. The ANHS Wolverines won a total of three matches, while the Tesoro Titans were not able to win any of the matches.
Following that game four days later, on Oct. 9, the team went up against San Clemente High again for a second time. But unlike their last competition, the girls lost to them with a final score of 3-2.
However the team ended League off with a tremendous win as they defeated San Juan Hills with a score of 3-1. The game was a huge school function as it was their annual Dig Pink event. As family and friends showed up that night and wore pink to show support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the girls hosted a raffle, giving all the proceeds to the Sideout Foundation.
But most importantly, the victory over San Juan Hills that evening gave the team the opportunity to advance to CIF.
In the beginning of this year’s season, Barr stated that her goal was to win the League season with her team for her last year playing at Aliso Niguel. With hard work and dedication, she overcame her worries and earned her wish as the team was triumphant in the end.
Currently in the South Coast League, the Aliso Niguel girls volleyball team is ranked at spot number three with a win to loss standing of 4-4. Meanwhile, San Clemente holds the spot of number two (5-3) and Dana Hills is ranked at number one (7-1).
