This year’s Varsity Girls Waterpolo team is second in league for the season
As the PRHS Varsity Girls Water Polo team emerges from the water, the crowd passionately shouts “Go Bearcats” another successful win.
The water polo team has been doing very well this season, posting a 6-2 Mountain League Record and 18-8 overall record. Compared to last years standings of 3-5 in the Pac-8 League, the team has improved significantly — climbing to a second place standing in the Mountain League behind Arroyo Grande.
“This team has worked very hard and returned their complete starting line up. Many of the players have been together for 2-3 years now and [have] known my expectations and game plans [since] before the season [started]. The players work together well and we emphasize on one of our team mottos: ‘We, Not Me.’ These ladies work hard throughout the entire game every game and play for each other. They are a fun and hardworking group and put each other before themselves,” the head varsity coach, Grant East, explained.
This year’s team has 16 players, all of whom are juniors and seniors (seven and nine, respectively); 13 of them returned from the 2017 Varsity team. This team dynamic has proved to be successful since the beginning of the season, when the girls won first place in the Tulare Union High School Tribe Varsity Tournament.
“We hope to go deep into CIF or win the whole thing,” East said explaining the plans for the end of the season.
In a historic game, PRHS beat Righetti 10-9 for the first time in years. They also beat them in their final league game on Oct. 16. Arroyo Grande is the only Mountain League team the girls have lost to this year. On Oct. 24, Bearcats will play in the CCAA Mountain League Varsity Finals where the team hopes to place in the top three.
“I think we have had so much success because we have been playing together [for] a while now. Our team consists only of upperclassmen so we all know each other pretty well in and o
The team has dedicated a lot of time to the sport with two hour trainings in both the morning and afternoon every weekday.
“We have had so much success due to early morning practices and swim sets that we have not done in past years. Every one of the girls [has been] working their butts off and the results are showing. This season has gone exceptionally well. We started out very strong and haven’t stopped. We won a tournament in the beginning and that was really eye opening to a lot of the team [realizing] that we are good and have potential to go really far. We have fought every single second we are in the water and our record shows it. The hopes for the season are to go far in CIF and make a name for our team in the Central Section,” explained Junior Halle Nash, a varsity player for three years.
11/01/18 Update:
On Oct. 31 the girls team traveled to Sanger High School for their first round of CIF. Bearcats seeded tenth and their opponents were seventh. Bearcats lost seven to thirteen.
