SET girls’ water polo bounces back to beat Huntington Beach at USA Water Polo Junior Olympics

The Saddleback-El Toro (SET) 18-and-under Black girls’ water polo club team features top players from Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar, Santa Margarita, Mater Dei and Brea Olinda high schools.

It’s a big collection of talent for SET, which is a strong contender at this year’s USA Water Polo Junior Olympics. But SET will now have to fight back after a tough loss Friday on the second day of the four-day tournament.

No. 3-seeded SET lost to No. 11 Santa Barbara 10-9 in a platinum division match at Tustin High, before rebounding for a 15-7 victory over No. 6 Huntington Beach Orange.

Coach Ethan Damato’s squad finished second in the three-team platinum division group, and needs three wins Saturday to make Sunday’s tournament semifinals. The next match is at 8 a.m. Saturday at Foothill High.

Damato, who led the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title in February, said he was in a grumpy mood after Friday’s pair of matches.

“[Santa Barbara] scored twice [in the last two minutes] to win,” he said. “We had a good look, tied, with about a minute left, then we had a good look at the end of the game as well that we didn’t make. It was a rough loss, but it’s a long tournament. Now we’ve got to try to fight our way back.”

SET bounced back in Friday’s second match. Huntington Beach got a pair of goals by recent Huntington Beach High graduate Courtney Heydorff in the first quarter for a 3-2 lead, but SET scored seven second-quarter goals for a commanding 9-4 halftime advantage.

“We just came together a little bit more,” said SET’s Morgan Van Alphen, an incoming senior at Laguna Beach High and UCLA verbal commit. “We were seeing each other when we were open, and kind of talking and moving the ball a lot better. We play a lot better when we set each other up. When we’re setting each other up and playing together, there’s not much that can stop us.”

Destiny Hernandez of the Huntington Beach 18-and-under Orange team, in dark cap, is surrounded by SET’s Tea Poljak, left, and Honnie Vandeweghe-O’Shea (4) in the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics match on Friday at Tustin High.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Van Alphen scored three goals, which tied her for match-high honors with teammates Honnie Vandeweghe-O’Shea and Caroline Christl, both of whom attend Santa Margarita. Huntington Beach’s Leigh Lyter, an incoming senior at Mira Costa High, also scored three goals.

Stanford-bound CdM High graduate Sophie Wallace, the 2019 Daily Pilot Dream Team Player of the Year, added two goals for SET. Incoming CdM junior Grace Myers also scored.

SET also includes Laguna Beach graduates Claire Kelly, Cici Stewart and Quinn Winter, as well as incoming Breakers seniors Tea Poljak and Grace Houlahan.

Huntington Beach, which finished third place in the group, had a play-in match against Newport Beach later Friday.

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