thesportsedition HIGHLIGHTS
VOLUME II, ISSUE TWO · TODAY WELL LIVED · OCTOBER 7, 2011
Boys’ water polo opens Ocean League with loss Ryan Feinberg With a brand new starting lineup, Norman Nation’s varsity water polo team is swimming into season with a preseason record of 8-9. Eight seniors graduated last year, leaving younger players to fill the gaps on the team. Head Coach Robert Bowie hopes that the lack of experience will not hold back the squad. “After graduating eight seniors last year we’ve had a lot of younger guys have to step up to the varsity level,” Bowie said. The team participated in the South Bay Tournament on Friday, Sept. 9 and Saturday, Oct. 1. The results include beating El Segundo 16-7, beating Culver City 15-14 and losing to Mira Costa 10-13. Captain Dillon Silverstein, Captain Zak Zukoski, Nick Goncharov and David Kotlarenko all had helpful performances and scored. Although it was a successful performance, the team is looking to improve. “We’re still working on team defense and better communication,” Bowie explained.
“It’s a work in progress that gets better with each game.” As of Oct. 5, the squad’s record was 8-10, and they plan on finishing within the top three spots of league in order to have a spot in CIF. The team’s first Ocean League game was away on Wednesday, Oct. 5 against El Segundo. The team suffered a defeat of 12-18. “We were close and then fell apart in the third quarter,” senior Tyler Neman said. Still, Bowie is confident the team is developing well. “The team is growing as a unit. They are becoming more of a team in and out of the pool,” Bowie said. Tyler Neman is confident the team can have a successful season once the team as a whole fulfills its potential. “We need more confidence,” Neman said. “We need to realize [we] are better than we think we are.” The team had an away game against Brentwood on Thursday, Oct. 6; however, the results were not available as of press time.
“We need to realize [we] are better than we think we are,” Neman said.
David Hakakian winds up to pass the ball to a teammate in the Swim Gym. Alex Menache
Girls’ volleyball currently tied for first in league Arman Zadeh On Thursday, Sept. 22, the girls’ varsity volleyball team lost 0-3 to the Torrance Tartars in a nonconference game. Middle blocker Taylor McBride believed everyone played well, but they all “had their slumps” during the match. Outside hitter Liat Hackman also believed they had satisfactory play. “Even though it was a loss, I think we really played hard,” Hackman said. Head Coach Marla Weiss thought the team lacked the consistency needed to beat Torrance. “We beat Torrance over the summer,” Weiss said. “We had a slow start and lost a very close third game that would’ve extended the match.” The team played their first league match against Morningside at home on Wednesday, Oct. 5, winning 3-0, placing Beverly in a first place position. The team held the Monarchs to under eight points in all three rounds. Following the loss to Torrance, the team returned to the basics to perfect the “simple things,” as outside hitter Allison Wolff said, to ensure successful play and more opportunities to score. Middle blocker Alex Sams said the team was able to hold them off by “focusing on [Morningside’s] weaknesses.”
Wolff said the team knew they were up against a weaker opponent, but never relaxed their play. “We tried to get in there, do our job and leave,” Wolff said. Weiss believed that this was a huge win for the team. “Emotionally, the team needed a win, and then of course it puts us tied for first in league,” Weiss said. Weiss also thought that setting both individual and team goals aside were a huge factor of their success. The team is set to play Inglewood in the Swim Gym at 3:15 p.m., on Friday, Oct. 7. The team feels confident as they prepare to face Inglewood and hope they can start off the season with a 2-0 league record. Weiss believes that by keeping the same goals as they did against Morningside the team will be in good shape. “Our goals will be the same: to try and minimize unforced errors and play as clean of a volleyball match as we can,” Weiss said. Wolff said that although the team’s first priority is playing Inglewood on Friday, they look forward to playing at Santa Monica on Tuesday, Oct. 11. The team has high hopes for playing SAMO, their archrivals. “If we do well enough, we’ll get an ice cream party,” Sams said jokingly.
“Emotionally, the team needed a win,” Weiss said.
Violet Shorman spikes the volleyball while Alex Sams prepares for the return. Arman Zadeh
Meet the captains Halle Beesen, setter, is 5 feet 6 inches tall. Before each game, she pumps up by listening to “anything on [her] iPod.” Her favorite Gatorade color is orange. Beesen has three years on varsity.
Ginelle Wolfe, libero, is 5 feet 6 inches tall. She always listens to “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor before games. Her favorite Gatorade color is light blue. Wolfe has one and a half years on varsity.
thesportsedition
HIGHLIGHTS · VOLUME II, ISSUE TWO · TODAY WELL LIVED · OCTOBER 7, 2011
Cross-country breaks records at recent races Danny Licht
Brandon Adams celebrates a touchdown against Peninsula at Nickoll Field. Oliver Gallop
Normans surrender to Canyon and Peninsula Ben Hannani Varsity football has had a rough start to the season with three losses in their first four games. While the team was almost within victory in their 32-28 home loss against Palos Verdes Peninsula on Sept. 23, being defeated 56-6 at Canyon on Sept. 30 was another story altogether. Despite the loss against Peninsula, Head Coach Donald Paysinger was pleased with the team’s effort and saw a great deal of progress. He marked the game as the first occasion in which the squad functioned well as one unit and praised the team’s execution. “We actually played like a team offensively and defensively. On offense, we moved the ball, scored some points and ran the plays we’ve been doing in practice for the past month,” Paysinger said. With regards to defense, Paysinger was generally satisfied. Although the coach saw signs of fatigue, he was content with how the defensive line did not give up. “The defense played well. I think they got tired toward the end, but they battled…for the whole game,” Paysinger said. Beverly dominated early on, as the squad scored the game’s first two touchdowns. Running back Frank Brown found the end zone with 9:46 remaining in the first quarter, followed by a score from quarterback Brandon Adams with 8:24 left in the second quarter. However, the turning point came when Peninsula intercepted the ball with 47 seconds until halftime and returned 74 yards to give them a 18-14 lead. Despite two more Beverly touchdowns from tight end and linebacker Madison Moore and Brown,
Upcoming games
Friday, October 7: Girls Varsity Volleyball vs Inglewood, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, October 8: Cross Country Central Park Invite, 11:00 a.m. Tuesday,
the best of Beverly’s varsity athletes. His time, however, was seven seconds off sophomore Aaron Karlin’s time, which was the second fastest out of 37 freshmen and sophomore runners. Karlin’s success amazed even Karlin himself. “I was surprised,” Karlin remarked. He “didn’t know what to expect” because this was his first year on the cross-country team.
Cross-country continues to improve upon last year’s success. The cross-country team has been working hard since day one, and their practice has been paying off at recent races. “[Coach Fisher is] working us really hard,” junior Eli Flesch said. “It’s been much harder than last year.…the times are getting faster. The distances are getting longer. It’s just like overall improvement.” At the 2.8-mile South Bay Cup, Flesch and his teammates did a “tempo run,” where the team “start[s] out at a pace that’s, like, fresh: not too fast Aaron Karlin broke Beverly’s record at the South Bay cup. Jeff Wolfe but comfortably fast. And then each mile we drop it down to a Flesch was coolly embarrassed by Karpretty fast pace,” Flesch explained. “It’s lin, a less-experienced runner, one-upping usually comfortable.” him. At the 3.1-mile Brea-Olinda invitational, Flesch’s friend Eli Lloyd consoled him: eleven runners represented Beverly. “Even Rocky lost the fight against Apollo Senior Brianna Simmons came in second in movie one. We all have our bad days.” place out of 31 female varsity runners at Flesch agreed. 19:31. The team’s next meet, the Central Park Flesch came in 13th place out of 37 male Invite in Hungtington Beach, will take varsity runners at 17:57, making his time place this Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
respectively, the Normans were unable to pull away with a victory. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the game was the team’s quarterback situation. With typical starter Cameron Countryman out with injury, Adams had to step up. However, Adams was unable to practice on Monday and Tuesday because he had the flu. With only one full practice on Wednesday prior to the game, Adams’ performance was particularly notable to Paysinger. “Adams played great,” Paysinger said. “The kid was out sick on Monday and Tuesday, [but] he came in his first start as varsity quarterback [and] played great.” Whatever light appeared to be at the end of the tunnel after the Peninsula game was nowhere to be found after the Normans were routed in a 50-point loss to Canyon. Unlike the Peninsula game, the team had difficulty making plays and struggled immensely on defense. The squad’s lone touchdown came from Adams in the third quarter, though it was too little, too late for the Normans. “Communication was a big weakness and we were not playing how we were taught,” Co-Captain Julian Jackson said. After the embarrassing loss, Jackson expressed that the game should be forgotten in order to move forward, but remembered for motivation. Practices will certainly be tougher. “As a leader I’m going to do better at keeping the team focused, and the culture of practice will become more intense,” Jackson said. “The team has to take this as an learning experience, this is the best competition we have played so far, and things will change for the weeks to come.”
Arman Zadeh Although still in preseason, the boys’ varsity basketball team shows high hopes for success in the spring. With a tight schedule of two to three games every weekend, the team feels they are getting to know each other better than they ever have on and off the court. “We are a lot closer as a unit compared to last year, and I think we feel like we know how each other play better than last year,” senior Austin Mills said. While the team seems to have the tools to win, Mills still believes the squad needs to find more of a passion to play the game, after struggling and losing all three games this past weekend against West Torrance. “We played pretty badly this weekend. We lost all three games, but we’re looking to get back next week and win some games,” sophomore Ronan Massana said. Even though the team lost, Head Coach Jarvis Turner isn’t yet concerned about the teams shape for the season. “I’m not necessarily worried about the opponents we play. More so, our focus is us doing well, playing together as a team, playing hard and trying to win games,” Coach Turner said. Massana believes that through practice they can beat the league’s tougher contenders like Santa Monica or Inglewood, to accomplish their ultimate goal to win league. “We know we’re good enough and we’re capable of it, we just have to go ahead and do it,” Massana said.
October 11: Boys Water Polo vs Torrance, 3:00 p.m. Girls Varsity Tennis vs Santa Monica, 3:00 p.m. Varsity Girls Golf vs Torrance, 2:18 p.m. Girls Varsity Volleyball vs Santa Monica, 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oc-
tober 12: Boys Water Polo vs Torrance, 3:00 p.m. Thursday, October 13: Boys Water Polo vs Santa Monica, 3:00 p.m. Cross Country League Meet #2, 2:30 p.m. Varsity Girls Tennis vs Culver City, 3:00 p.m.
Basketball Preseason With the season still months away, the girls’ varsity basketball team is preparing for the long road ahead. After last season, the team lost their seniors, who junior Megan Yee feels “were [their] main players.” “Now it’s our turn to lead the team, and we just have to get used to it,” said Yee. On Saturday Oct. 1, the team lost to Camarillo at home in a preseason matchup, 2868. “Nobody played better than anyone else. It was a team loss,” Mehrannia said. Mehrannia says that the team will need to practice harder and improve their game every single time they play in order to beat the majority of the league. Coach John Braddell believes the team still has to recover a lot of lost ground following the loss of their seniors. When asked about the team’s strengths, Braddell said they were “yet to be determined.” “We have some kids that are throwing in some roles that they haven’t been involved with in a long time,” Braddell said. “So, it’ll be interesting to see what we have.” The team hopes to become a tighter unit as this preseason progresses in order to be more prepared for the upcoming season. “It’s going to be a growing process,” Braddell said. Yee believes their full effort will translate into success. “We’re definitely not as strong as last year, but we’re working a lot harder to get better,” Yee said.
thesportsedition staff Ryan Feinberg, Benjamin Hannani, Danny Licht, Mallika Sen, and Arman Zadeh
advisers Gaby Herbst and Katie Murray