The Palisades High girls water polo team opened the City Section playoffs last Wednesday and Coach Adam Blakis had a surprise in store for visiting Marquez.
Seeing an opportunity to get the reserves valuable postseason experience, Blakis sat his starters for three quarters, but the second-seeded Dolphins still had enough skill and talent to prevail 11-6 at Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center.
“I wanted to get the subs some playing time, which will be harder to do the further we go in the playoffs,” Blakis said. “Everyone’s healthy and we were expecting the No. 2 seed.”
Fans passing by the pool might have been alarmed to see the score 3-3 at halftime. However, the first-stringers took the water for the third quarter and outscored the Gladiators 7-0.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
Almost every PaliHi player made a mark on the stat sheet. Genesis Carballo had three goals and two steals (all in the third quarter), Mardell Ramirez had two goals and two assists, Roya Visconti had two goals, Rachel Dean had two assists and four steals, Rachel Martin had a goal, three steals and two assists and Yasmin Ansari, Caroline Connelly and Elli Blake each added a goal for the Dolphins, who topped LACES 13-4 in the quarterfinals two days later.
“I just try my best to do the plays,” Carballo said. “We were happy about our seeding and we really want to get to the finals against [No. 1 seed] Eagle Rock.”
Marquez coach Sandy De La Rosa was happy her team made the playoffs in its first year after finishing fourth in the Northern League. Marquez had only six swimmers, meaning each had to play all 28 minutes, but De La Rosa said her team is used to it.
“I was encouraging them at halftime to keep swimming,” she said. “I’m surprised we made it this far.”
Having played Eagle Rock and Palisades, De La Rosa gave her assessment of both teams.
“Palisades is very good and it would be an interesting game,” she said. “Eagle Rock has a lot of depth, a lot of speed and great communication on offense.”
Palisades met Coastal League rival Venice in the semifinals Tuesday with the winner advancing to today’s final at 6 p.m. at Contreras High.
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