Girls water polo swims to second place

Sarah Abraham

The girls water polo 2015 state team. Pictured at the Ohio Wesleyan University pool. Having one last pep talk from their captains before the state final game.

Sarah Abraham, Staff Writer

The 2015 girls varsity water polo team finished up their season. The weekend of Oct. 23, the girls were going into the state championships with a second place seed,hoping to end up with a championship title. They ended up in second place, after getting defeated in the state finals by the defending state champions, Upper Arlington.

The state tournament this year was different from any other. It was a round robin with two different brackets. Sycamore came in first place in the B bracket. Upper Arlington came first in the A Bracket.

Coach Nicholas Hellwig said, “The girls this season played exactly as I had expected them too, as one of the top teams in Ohio. This is becuase of how close they played. They acted as a family, fought together against common enemies as a family and really pushed each other to become one of the top programs to come through Sycamore ever.”
SHS’ girls water polo team left before the end of the school day for their first game in the state championships Friday night at Ohio Wesleyan University. Their first game was against the 2014 state runner-ups Napoleon, who they played three times this season, and only lost to once,in a close match. The girls beat Napoleon 11-5.

The girls first game Saturday morning was against Mason in the semi-finals, who is ranked third in the state. The girls team played Mason four times before, losing only once. The girls won their game against Mason 11-8, putting them in the state finals.

Senior Tyler Miller who came and watched the girls play said, “[The girls] were fired up and seemed really excited to play in the state finals game. The energy was great and I could tell they really wanted it and worked hard for it.”

The girls would play the defending state champions Upper Arlington that night. They were 4-1 after the first quarter.4-3 at half. 9-4 after the third. They lost 11-6 to Upper Arlington, located near Columbus, OH.

Senior Jory Gould said, “This whole season our team has become more like a family. Not only did being this close help in games, it gave me an environment I always felt comfortable in.”