Glendale High girls’ water polo season wraps up

Though the Glendale High girls’ water polo team saw its season come to a close on Wednesday afternoon, season-long expectations were met.

Before the season started, Glendale Coach Forest Holbrook said the two main goals were to finish no worse than third place in the Pacific League and qualify for the postseason.

Having achieved those accomplishments, the Nitros saw their season end with an 18-3 loss to Redlands East Valley in a CIF Southern Section Division V first-round match.

“I’m happy with what we got accomplished,” said Holbrook, whose team finished 12-11. “We made quite a few strides and were able to accomplish plenty.

“We feel like we have the type of team that can move up next year and really be competitive.”

Glendale never led against Redlands East Valley, which improved to 21-8 after winning the Citrus Belt League championship.

The Nitros received two goals from Biyouregh Boghozian and one from Naira Sarkian.

Holbrook, who guided the school’s boys’ team to an appearance in the Division V final in the fall, said the Nitros had difficulty with Redlands East Valley’s counter-attack.

“They took us from the start and they have a very good counter-attack that’s similar to Crescenta Valley’s,” said Holbrook, whose team trailed, 9-2, at halftime. “We couldn’t keep up with it and it was ultimately too much to handle.

“We didn’t get the result that we wanted, but we got a good effort. The mentality coming in was to focus on playing strong defense, and it was just a case of too little too late.”

Holbrook said the Nitros will try to build off what they got done this season and lay a foundation for 2014.

“We feel like we are on the right track,” Holbrook said.