Gladiator Water Take over Water Polo Season

The lady Gladiator’s water polo team did it again! The girls’ water polo team made it to the playoffs for the second year in a row and this year they went farther than before. After beating San Pedro (7th seed) in round 1 they moved to the quarter finals where they unfortunately lost against Pacific Palisades (2nd seed). In league Marquez finished in 2nd place, but advancing into playoffs they ranked 10th place out of 16 seeds “not bad for being second season players.” said coach David Lopez.

This season was an accomplishment for the team as it won most of their games including their rival games against Huntington Park and Roosevelt. They ended the season with ten wins and four losses. With an accomplishment of 183 goals, they were capable of playing playoffs.

The Water Polo team has made Marquez proud with their success, but the coaches behind these lady Gladiators are even prouder. “With the tremendous help of Coach Barbosa and our captain Azucena Zepeda we were able to have a great season...leaving our team with a 10-4 overall record." said coach David Lopez.

Top goal scorer, Carmen Garcia #7 said, “every single one of us pushed ourselves to our limits... we built a strong bond. This is key to teamwork, and I’m really proud that we came this far.”

Water polo will continue to be a sport at Marquez with five out of ten girls returning. There was doubt that water polo would have a complete team this year since they lacked subs the year before. However, with the remaining five girls and future incoming students from Roosevelt Park water polo will have a complete team. The aquatics program coaches Lopez and Barbosa are recruiting members from their own team in Roosevelt Park to join the Marquez’s swim and water polo team next year.

The team definitely felt pressured to do better than the previous year, “we accomplished our goals for the season to defeat the teams that got the best of us last year” said Azucena Zepeda, captain #3.

Marquez water polo will say goodbye to five key players who are currently seniors: Valerie Orozco (goalie #13), Liliana Campos (left wing #4) with a total of 34 goals, Lupe Barrera (right wing #6) with a total of 11 goals, Carmen Garcia (point #7) with a total of 54 goals, and Azucena Zepeda (hole set #3) with a total of 51 goals.

"The girls physically and mentally prepared themselves for each game and should be proud to have improved their record from last season. Our seniors are leaving high records to beat for the oncoming players." said coach Lopez as he reflected on the girls success this season. This was Lopez’s first year coaching at Marquez and is pleased with the outcome of his team.

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