Estancia High water polo teams enjoying 'new' digs

Estancia's Spencer Bantel looks for an open shot under pressure from Lakewood's Larkin Jones during a game on Tuesday.

By Matt SzaboStaff Writer

March 9, 2021 7:16 PM PT

Senior goalkeeper Griffin Beth is used to blocking shots for the Estancia High School boys’ water polo team, not saving them, yet he scored in the final minute of the Eagles’ nonleague home match against Lakewood on Tuesday.

That was not the only unique thing going on.

Think playing high school water polo in the spring is weird? Opening a pool, then not playing a match there for more than a year, has to be even weirder.

Yet that’s been the story for the Estancia High aquatics program, which had its new 50-meter pool and complex open for just two weeks in February 2020 before it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

About a year later, the Eagles are finally playing their first water polo matches in their new house.

Estancia plays against Lakewood during a game at the new pool on Tuesday.

“We’ve pretty much been looking forward to finally being able to play in our pool for a long time now,” said Beth, bound for Concordia University. “It’s pretty surreal to finally get a season during COVID at our home pool. Especially being 3-0 right now, it’s pretty fun. I think we’re all pretty excited about it.”

Estancia, led by seniors Beth, Logan Richard and Noah Gniffke, continued its winning ways. The Eagles routed Lakewood 16-0 to earn its third straight win to start the season.

Outside of the complex was a tent, where fans were screened and their temperatures taken before entry. It’s a safety measure for a water polo season that can best be described as a sprint. The Eagles are in the middle of just three weeks of matches, concluding with the Orange Coast League finale against rival Costa Mesa on March 20.

Estancia was the last of the four comprehensive high schools in Newport-Mesa Unified School District to build a 50-meter, Olympic-size pool. The project itself, budgeted at about $9 million, was long-delayed even before COVID-19.

“We had two swim meets before we got shut down for COVID,” Estancia High Athletic Director Nate Goellrich said. “These are the first initial [water polo] games in the pool. It’s a weird way to do it, but we’ll have a big ceremony hopefully when it’s safe to do so.”

Goellrich said with the new pool, the Eagles can hold water polo tournaments in the future with two matches at a time going each way. He added that there is room for three times as many spectators as before, and the locker rooms have been revamped as well.

“This facility came out great,” he said. “It was a struggle early, but we got through that hiccup, and the end product was well worth the wait for this facility.”

Estancia's Tyler Humphries attempts to block a shot from Lakewood's Anon Ellis.

Richard had five goals and six assists for the Eagles on Tuesday, while Kervin Lim Sy scored three times. Tyler Humphries and Dane Dodge each scored twice, and Max McNiff, Noah Gniffke and Micah Gniffke scored a goal each for the winners. Beth made five first-half saves in goal, while Peyton Watkins made four saves in the second half to preserve the shutout.

Estancia coach Matt Frazier said he has a team that he believes could have made a run in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs. But with the playoffs canceled for water polo, beating rival Costa Mesa and earning a possible league title is an obvious immediate goal.

The Mustangs have won the rivalry match in league nine straight times.

“It’s going to be a pretty good game,” Frazier said. “We’ve already got a game plan set up. Last year was a tight game [a 9-7 Costa Mesa win]. We kind of surprised them last year, and I think we’re going to get them this year. At least, I hope so. It’d be nice for these guys.”