By Eric Terrazas, SGVN
twitter.com/WhittierPreps
Seven area schools qualified for the CIF-Southern Section girls water polo playoffs that start this week. Pairings were announced Sunday and feature seven divisions.
The Division 4 field includes five area teams: La Serna, California, Whittier, El Rancho and La Habra.
La Serna (18-10 overall), the Del Rio League champion with a 5-0 record, will host Temple City (17-12) in a first-round game scheduled for Thursday. The visiting Rams, the Rio Hondo League’s second-place team, take on a Lancers squad that drew the No. 4 seed.
California (16-7), which went 3-2 in the Del Rio League, also drew a Thursday first-round match at Freeway League champion Troy (21-8), which is the No. 2 seed.
“We’re really happy to make the tournament,” California coach Jeff Boline said. “The last three years, we made it to the wild-card round and had to advance from there. It’s nice to get an automatic bid (into the first round).”
Whittier (8-19, 3-2) will start its postseason run in Tuesday’s wild-card round with a home game against Buena Park (14-12), an at-large entry from the Freeway League. The winner will visit top-seeded Bonita (21-7) for a first-round game on Thursday.
El Rancho and La Habra also are scheduled for Tuesday wild-card matches.
Read more: High School Girls Water Polo: Seven area schools qualify for playoffs