Wilson downs Poly, keeps title hopes alive
LONG BEACH » When the Wilson girls volleyball team dropped a four-set match to Long Beach Poly on Sept. 14, Bruins coach Christopher Ceballos saw a team “trying to figure out who we are.”
A big reason was that senior outside hitter Babi Gubbins, a transfer from Mater Dei, had been cleared to compete only two days prior to the match and played a limited role as she eased her way into the Bruins' rotation.
By the time the teams met Tuesday for a second time in league play, Gubbins was a major player and a key reason why the Bruins now find themselves on the brink of winning the Moore League championship, either outright or a share of it.
Gubbins, a Stanford commit, and teammate Chloe Pravednikov (Pepperdine commit) combined to record 29 kills for Wilson in a 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-13 victory that left Poly and Wilson in a tie atop the Moore League standings with one league game remaining for each team.
“I tried to just fit into the team because I was so new, such a new part to the team,” said Gubbins, who contributed 14 kills, three service aces and two blocks.
Now, Gubbins is looking to help the Bruins earn their first league title since 2011.
“That would be so great,” Gubbins said. “It's my only year here so I think helping them win a Moore League title would be so great because we haven't had that in a while. I'm really excited, hopefully we can pull it off.”
By winning Tuesday, the Bruins (23-9, 10-1) denied the Jackrabbits (23-9, 10-1) the outright Moore League crown.
Poly is trying to win its first league title since 2019. Wilson finished second to Lakewood in league each of the last two seasons.
Poly will close the regular season at home Thursday against Compton while Wilson will face Lakewood.
“When (Gubbins) is on and she's passing — and that's her thing — we're able to flow more on our offense,” Ceballos said. “We're able to give Chloe the ball without her having to worry too much about the serve receive. It frees up everyone to just be themselves.”
Ceballos added that his players would have “felt some type of way” if Jackrabbits coach Gerald Aquiningoc, who helped build the Wilson program, would have been the only one celebrating a Moore League championship.
Aquiningoc said the Jackrabbits simply “played bad today.”
“We knew what they were gonna do,” Aquiningoc said. “We just didn't execute our game plan. … When we're not passing great, we can't do what we want to do. Our middle (blockers) are the key and when we can't get them going it's hard because they're really big on the pins.”
Those pins were Gubbins and Pravednikov, who had match highs of 15 kills and five aces. In all, the Bruins had 10 aces.