By Rick Assad
Despite neither the Burroughs High or Burbank girls’ water polo programs posting an overall winning record a season ago, both are looking to make a big splash this campaign.
The Bears went 11-13 in all matches and 7-3 for third place in the Pacific League while Burbank struggled after posting a 5-14 record and 2-5 for sixth place in league play.
Burroughs went to the CIF Southern Section Division III opening round of the playoffs and lost to Costa Mesa 16-8.
The Burroughs team consists of sixteen players and seven are seniors and they will be led by guard/center Ava Tomlinson and under the direction of Coach Martin Ortega Jennison.
“I think this season should go pretty good. We have an older team with mostly juniors and seniors that have played together before,” said Tomlinson, who is on the varsity for her third season. “So we are really comfortable and confident with each other. We are excited and ready for the season to start.”
The other seniors are attacker Diana Garcia, attacker Gigi Janczewski, attacker Nicole Kesaryan, attacker Sarah Metry, attacker Bianca Rios and center/utility Olivia Dominguez.
The juniors are comprised of center/utility Morgan Wright, attacker Derika Berenguer, attacker Lauren Chaparro, goalie Molly Gilmore, attacker Trinity Hager, guard Bonnie Kretzmann, attacker Bella Matossian, attacker Tyler Timman and attacker Jazlynn Woods.
This is Wright’s second season on the varsity, and she is pleased that the season is just around the corner.
“I’m super excited for the season with this group of girls because we all mesh really well and have great team chemistry inside and outside the water,” she explained. “We have a great offensive lineup and I think this will be a great season for us.”
The Bulldogs have a first-year coach in Mariano Galvez, and he has sixteen players on Burbank’s team including four seniors.
They are center Lizzie Bislamyan, driver Audrey Ebrahimi, attacker Rose Ilangesyan and attacker Kristina Khamtrashyan.
Three juniors dot the squad and they are goalkeeper Angela Khachikyan, driver Lina Tahmasian and attacker Melanie Hayrapetian.
Nine freshmen are on the team and they are utility Ada Luang-Aram, driver Stella Mehserdjian, center Ani Zelveyan, driver Ellen Ghukasyan, utility Nicole Ebrahim, utility Chloe Adigulian, utility Emily Markaryan, driver Sienna Hale and utility Laura Atshemyan.
