thesportsedition BEVERLY HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
HIGHLIGHTS · VOLUME II, ISSUE NINE · MARCH 2, 2012
Boys’ basketball ends historic playoff run Arman Zadeh On Friday, Feb. 24, the Norman basketball season was put to an end in the fourth round of the CIF playoffs. The team faced defeat as they battled the Pasadena Bulldogs in a back and forth contest for a spot in the CIF finals. The team was beaten by a score of 8167. Beverly finished with a record of 20-10 for the season and a state rank of 103. This was Beverly’s first semi-finals appearance in 42 years, since 1969. Point guard Austin Mills led the team in what would prove to be their final game of the season with 24 points while dishing out eight assists. Guard Siavash Yektafar also proved to be a huge factor in the Norman’s offense with a total of four huge three-point shots throughout the game. Yektafar finished with a total of 12 points and a steal. Mills believed one of the Norman’s biggest problems against the oversized Bulldogs came from the team’s lack of athleticism. “We couldn’t stop their rebounding… and had a tough time stopping the transition [play],” Mills said. Mills’s outstanding play kept the Normans in the game even as Pasadena held the largest lead of the game of 17. Although Mills lead the game in points, he was not enough to hold off Pasadena’s huge runs throughout the second half.
Shooting guard Brodric Smith drives in the CIF game versus Pasadena Bulldogs. ARMAN ZADEH
Center Ronan Massana believed the loss was a big upset to the team because he believed the Norman’s had a strong chance of heading to the finals for the first time since 1969. “It was very disappointing because we really believed that we could continue our impressive run into this game. Unfortunately, we didn’t stick to our game plan of stopping them from rebounding the ball which gave them to many second chance opportunities,” Massana said. Beverly was also handed more sad news as they were recently informed that they did not qualify for the state tournament. Sixteen teams in Southern California are invited to participate in a divisional tournament that would eventually give the top team a spot in the state championship in Sacramento. Beverly was not invited due to a lesser overall record in their final ten games of the season. The minimum record stood at 8-2 while the Normans held a record of 7-3. With the end of the Norman’s 20112012 basketball season, the team loses its seniors, a group that includes over half the team. Players who will not return to the team next season include guard Frank Brown, forward Mike Lanier, forward Willie Green, guard Peiman Rafiezadeh, guard Brodric Smith, forward Rohit Manocha, forward Topaz Levi, guard Tyler Hensley and Mills.
Baseball readies for season with three new captains Zoe Kenealy The boys’ varsity baseball team is commencing with both new and returning players. Three captains lead the team: Oliver Yi, Gabe Laemmle and Sam Mason. Fortunately, the team has seniors other than captains who serve as role models for younger players in the program. For example, Adrian Spitz is put on a pedestal and called “Gadrain” because his skills are “godly.” “[Spitz] has so much baseball wisdom,”
JV player Maxwell Martin said. “He is a two-sport athlete, so he’s very athletic.” Last year’s team finished with an overall record of 11-14. The players have been working hard through recent practices in a hopeful attempt at victory in their first game of the season on Friday, March 2 at Glenn. The team has another away game on Saturday, March 3 at Arcadia. The team is confident in the new season due to the fact that the squad has a new and improved work ethic, in addition to
many new players on the team. “Collectively our whole team has been putting in a lot of work during practice but also on our own time,” Yi said. With the team’s new effort for this upcoming season, there is question as to how far varsity baseball will proceed in their tournaments. “As a team, we’re confident that we can win the Ocean League this year,” Laemmle said. During its season, varsity baseball wants to make a statement to the school
and have it be heard by students all around campus. The players want to show the school that they have the talent and determination to bring Beverly a proud name with the exceptional performance of the team. “We’re definitely going out there and trying to prove a point to everyone that baseball’s the best sports team at Beverly,” Yi said. The team has many games at Beverly and desires to have the support of Beverly’s students for both the varsity and JV team.
Boys’ lacrosse loses to Loyola Mallika Sen Boys’ lacrosse opened their season with a 12-5 loss to Loyola on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at home. “We lost Tuesday’s game due to a lack of confidence and coordination,” captain Maddy O’Neill, who plays attack, said. However, he credited co-captain and midfielder Nick Heller with a good game, citing his hattrick. The Cubs were a formidable opponent, having made it to the third round of CIF playoffs with an 11-7 record last year. “We need to improve on ground balls, penalty minutes, and clears,” Heller assessed. O’Neill added that he felt players “were unable to finish in front of the goal.” The team has instituted new practice measures in attempt to improve on last year’s season record of 4-11 and develop Close defender Bram Geiderman runs during game against Loyola. ARMAN ZADEH
the new varsity players. The team lost 11 seniors from last year. “There is no abundance of players on the team. We have small numbers, and while we lack players, we do have some very skilled kids,” O’Neill said. Heller identified fellow midfielder Rod Shayan and goalie Michael Suh as key players, in addition to the captains. The Normans next play Palos Verdes Peninsula; both teams are members of the Bay League. Last season, the Panthers finished two spots above Beverly in league standings. “Friday is going to be tough. We are playing a team that is historically better than the team we lost to on Tuesday,” O’Neill said. “We need to start off fast and run the score up in the first half.” The squad plays Peninsula at home on Friday, March 2 at 4 p.m.
thesportsedition
HIGHLIGHTS · VOLUME II, ISSUE NINE · MARCH 2, 2012
Boys’ volleyball wins against Torrance, 3-0 Chanan Batra
Daniel Tabariai sets the volleyball during home game versus Torrance. ARMAN ZADEH
The boys’ varsity volleyball team started off its season with a win over Division IIIranked opponent Torrance on Tuesday, Feb. 28. The team won its first match despite limited practice as a whole due to many of the players’ participation in basketball’s CIF run. Sophomore Ronan Massana explained the quick transition from basketball season to volleyball season. “Three of our guys, including myself, got only one day of practice in between basketball and volleyball,” Massana said. “Obviously it was difficult, but we try to do what coach [John Ramin] tells us to prepare and perform well for the matches.” Beverly, led by seniors Daniel Tabariai and Brandon Adams, dominated its match against Torrance and won in three games. The first game in the best-of-five series went into overtime, with the win awarded to the team with a margin of victory of two points. Beverly squeaked by the first game with a score of 27-25. According to junior Eli Lloyd, this first game was the toughest of the match. “The first game went into overtime, which was tough,” Lloyd said. “Getting that first game was huge because it gave us confidence for the rest of the match to beat a team that was ranked fifth in a higher division than us.” Beverly rode the momentum from the first game into the second, but the squad still had to face a tough stretch to come out as victors of the second game. Beverly
fell behind in the middle of the second game by seven points, and it took a fierce comeback to overcome the deficit and keep the momentum going into the third game. Beverly eventually won the second game 25-19 and the third game, 25-21. A strength of the squad this year is the players’ experience. According to Lloyd, the team “lost a few seniors, but as a whole is much more athletic and experienced this year.” Beverly ended its last season with a 4-5 record in league, but the team looks to improve on its record this year and perhaps contend for a CIF championship title. According to Lloyd, the only way the squad has a chance this year in CIF is if it has the support of the school. “Last year we were good but young and we lost in CIF to the team that made it to the finals,” Lloyd said. “We have a good chance of winning CIF this year, but the only way we are going to be able to make a run is if people come and support us throughout the year.” Another strength of the squad is its level of dedication and focus this year. “This year we have more talent than last year, but more importantly we are much more dedicated to winning and working hard this year,” Massana said. With its success in its first game, the team gives itself momentum that they can use as the season progresses. If the team continues to win games as it did against Torrance and keep its level of focus high, it may no longer need to worry about school support in the Swim Gym.
Boys’ varsity tennis loses its first game Ryan Feinberg Boys’ varsity tennis team experienced a tough loss to start the season. Losing 17-1 to Corona Del Mar on Tuesday, Feb. 28, the team looks to improve in order to have a more successful season and achieve their goal of making CIF quarterfinals, as the squad did last year. Austin Towns and Cosimo Bocchi were the only Norman victors, winning one set. Junior Drew Freeman feels the team’s nervousness contributed to the loss. “This was the first match so some of our team was a little nervous,” Freeman said. “Our doubles teams still have not fully gotten use to each
other.” Although they remain injury-free, the team did lose some key seniors from last year. “We lost some good seniors so we are looking to improve our players and just work hard to teach everyone how to fight to win,” Freeman said. Freeman feels that the players are emotionally connected enough to be successful this season. “The team has some chemistry because we all have known each other for a while, but our doubles teams have never played together, so they need to work on that,” Freeman said. No freshmen made the varsity team this year. The team’s next matches are on March 6 against Brentwood and on March 8 against Loyola, both at home. Freshman Jonah Malkin practices during a Thursday lunchtime practice. GINELLE WOLFE
upcoming games
March 2: Swim team’s home Black & Orange meet at 3; boys’ lacrosse’s home game versus Peninsula at 4:30; girls’ lacrosse’s game versus Peninsula at 6; baseball’s away game versus John Glenn at 3:15. March 3: Track and field Oaks Christian Invitational; boys’ volleyball’s Redondo Tourney; girls’ lacrosse’s Rosebowl Tourney; away baseball game versus Arcadia at 11 a.m.
advisers
thesportsedition staff
Gaby Herbst and Katie Murray
Chanan Batra, Ryan Feinberg, Zoe Kenealy, Danny Licht, Mallika Sen, Ginelle Wolfe and Arman Zadeh
beverly hills high school 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 Send letters to the editors to beverlyhighlights@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @bhhighlights.