Water Polo

After dominating the CIF Southern Section Division II all year, the Laguna Beach High girls? water polo team did it when it came to awards time, too. Senior Annika Dries was selected Division II Player of the Year, one of four Breakers on the first team, as selected by the Southern California Water Polo Coaches? Assn. Seniors Taylor Dodson and Natasha Schulman, as well as junior Lexie Ross, made the first team. Sophomore Jessie Holechek was selected to the second team and Ethan Damato was recognized as Division II Coach of the Year.

It?s only the first week of December, but the Laguna Beach High winter sports season is already in full swing. ? BOYS? BASKETBALL The Breakers, playing at the La Quinta Tournament, started 1-1. They fell to host La Quinta on Monday, 53-46, before getting past Saddleback, 39-21, on Tuesday. Senior Adam Selevan had a team-high 12 points in the win over Saddleback, followed by sophomore Tyler Masukawa with nine and freshman Jake Dalke with eight. The Breakers held the Roadrunners scoreless in the second quarter, only the third time in school history a team had been held scoreless for a period.

With the prestigious Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions now in the books, the Laguna Beach High girls? water polo team this week has turned its attention to playing yet another big game. At 3:15 p.m. today, Laguna will host Villa Park in a Division II match-up that will pit the top-ranked Breakers against the seventh-ranked Spartans. Laguna comes into the nonleague match with a 15-2 record. The Breakers were saddled with their first two losses of the season last week up in Santa Barbara.

Things went pretty much as expected Wednesday for the Laguna Beach High girls? water polo team. The Breakers bolted to an 8-0 first-quarter lead against host Godinez and went on to take an 18-2 win from the Grizzlies in an Orange Coast League game played at Santa Ana Valley High. Natasha Schulman and Melena Masson both scored three goals to lead 11 Breakers who scored. Annika Dries, Lida DeGroote and Lexie Ross all scored twice and single goals were tallied by Riley Duncan, Taylor Dodson, Yoshi Andersen, Jessie Holechek, Brenda Josephs and Marley Donnenfeld.

Listen to Lexie Ross for a few minutes and she?ll give some valuable life lessons. The Laguna Beach High senior girls? water polo player is articulate, which might be expected of someone going to Stanford in the fall. She has a 4.5 grade-point average, good enough for valedictorian at some schools but she said her class rank is in the low-20s at Laguna Beach. She couldn?t care less. Ross is not so big on numbers. ?I try not to get too into that stuff, because there?s so many things in life that are more important than some decimal on a report card,?

Girls from Laguna Beach — high school and younger — accomplished great things in the pool in 2009. They earned a CIF title, a CIF runner-up and a Junior Olympics crown. The accomplishments occupy three of the spots on the Top 10 Sports Stories of 2009. Throw in great success in various sports from football to volleyball to tennis, and the Breakers had a great year, as well. Here at the Top 10 Sports Stories of 2009, as reported by the Coastline Pilot: 1 Girls’ water polo team breaks through Girls’ water polo team breaks through The Breakers had come close to winning a CIF title before, losing in the Division II finals and semifinals, respectively, by a single goal each time.

Ethan Damato said that the biggest game on the calendar for his Laguna Beach High boys? water polo team was Wednesday?s meeting with Costa Mesa. And for good reason, since it was a match-up that ended up having Orange Coast League title implications. It was simple: The winner of the showdown at the Laguna pool would emerge as the 2008 champion. Laguna, who had won the previous two titles in the league?s first two years of existence, showed just why it?s considered the league?

Annika Dries has had a busy summer at the pool. Fun and games? You bet. Call it a pool party, of sorts. But it?s been a lot of work, too, and the experience has proved to be invaluable to the Laguna Beach High athlete. Dries recently returned from Australia where she played on the USA ?91 Women?s Junior National Team that competed at the ?90 Global Championships in Brisbane. Last week, she played on the USA Junior team that competed at the ?88 Global Championships in Los Alamitos.

Laguna Beach senior outside hitter Paulette Grand Pre and senior opposite/setter Alex Rieckhoff were named co-Most Valuable Player for the Orange Coast League, in voting by league coaches. In addition, Breakers junior outside Chanel Stewart and sophomore setter Allison Palmer were named first-team all-league. Grand Pre, headed to William & Mary, led Laguna Beach (17-10) for the second straight year in kills. This year she had 303, despite missing time with a back injury, and also led the team in digs (234)

The Laguna Beach girls' water polo team ran its record to 5-0 on Dec. 22 by defeating San Clemente, 11-7, in nonleague action. The Breakers, ranked sixth in Division 1, turned a 2-0 first-quarter lead into a 4-2 halftime advantage over the host Tritons, who are ranked sixth in Division 2. Lexie Del Toro led the Breakers in scoring with four goals and the junior attacker also had an assist. Junior attacker Mackenzie Baldridge scored three goals and had an assist and a steal. Sophomore goalie Jenna Knott recorded nine saves and had two steals.