Long Beach volleyball, water polo, teis teams in new CIF divisions

LOS ALAMITOS >> While football is grabbing most of the headlines for the CIF Southe Section’s new competitive equity playoff model, nearly every sport in the CIF has been completely reorganized by the new divisional system. New divisions for girls volleyball, boys water polo, and girls teis were also aounced.

“I like it,” said longtime Lakewood volleyball coach Mike Wadley. “I know there was a lot of thought put into it and it was interesting looking at it and giving input.”

Wadley serves on the CIF-SS volleyball advisory committee, so he saw the rankings ahead of time.

“A lot of the talk wasn’t Division 1 or Division 2 — those were pretty cut and dry. It’s the lower divisions.”

Not all of the data was available, Wadley added, because some coaches haven’t added their information into the CIF-SS system yet, leaving room for changes. For example, Cabrillo won’t be eligible for playoff competitions at the moment because they haven’t entered their data into the CIF’s website.

Locally there weren’t many surprises in volleyball. Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Long Beach Poly, and Wilson are all in Division 1, while Compton and Millikan fall to Division 2. St. Joseph and Downey are in Division 3.

In boys water polo, Long Beach Wilson and Los Alamitos are the top teams in the area and they’re in Division 2, along with strong programs such as Murrieta Valley, JSerra and Agoura. According to the CIF-SS power rankings, the Bruins were five spots away from making it into Division 1, where they advanced to the second round in each of the last two seasons under head coach Jeff Nesmith.

“I’m a little surprised,” Nesmith says of the move down in divisions. “It’s double-sided because we’re excited at the opportunity to play in this new division, but we take pride in being in Division 1 so it’s a program goal to get back there.”

Los Alamitos was one spot away from being the top team in Division 3, and is the only Sunset League member in Division 2.

San Gabriel Valley League powerhouse Cerritos stays in the top half of the pack in Division 4, along with St. John Bosco out of the Trinity League and Long Beach Poly and Millikan out of the Moore League. Lakewood is in Division 5 and Jordan is in Division 6, with Downey and Warren out of the SGVL. Artesia, Cabrillo, Gahr and Paramount are all in Division 7.

In girls teis, Los Alamitos stays in Division 1 as the 21st overall team in the power rankings. Long Beach Poly and Cerritos are in Division 2, while Warren and Wilson narrowly missed the cut and land in Division 3 along with Lakewood, Millikan and Downey. In Division 4, Norwalk, Mayfair, Lynwood, Gahr, Paramount, Bellflower, St. Joseph, Compton, La Mirada and Artesia are in a 93-team field. Valley Christian is in Division 5.

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