Biola, Azusa Pacific water polo match up pits sisters against sisters
Biola head coach Sarah Orozco, left, and goalie Samantha Rainey, left, center, and her twin sister, APU player Shyanne Rainey, left, center, and APU Head coach Priscilla Gomez, right, and Orozco’s sister, after their women’s water polo tournament game at Cal Baptist University on Saturday. Biola defeated APU 10-9. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
LA MIRADA – The sport of water polo can sometimes be a family affair.
Saturday, Jan. 28, at Cal Baptist University in Riverside in the Annual Joust Tournament, two families came together for one afternoon.
Two sets of sisters were on both sides of the pool in a very evenly played game.
What made it all happen was the hiring last summer of Biola Women’s Water Polo coach, Sarah Orozco’s sister, Priscilla Gomez (Orozco) at rival Azusa Pacific University to head up the women’s water polo program.
Already in place was the other set of sisters, Samantha and Shyanne Rainey, who were already on the two rosters.
Samantha Rainey is a second-year goalie for Biola and twin sister, Shyanne, is in her fourth season with the Cougars.
Sarah Orozco is in her second year as coach of the Eagles and faced her sister, Priscilla, for the first time in their competitive lives.
Both Orozco sisters come into the two programs with great credentials.
Sarah and Priscilla both played at UCLA and won NCAA Championships in 2008, ’09.
Priscilla had coached the Montebello Girls Water Polo team for the last six years and led her team to the CIF playoffs in five of those years.
Only one time previous to Saturday’s rival game, the two sisters were on the opposite sides of the pool deck, but not as coaches.
Priscilla Orozco was an assistant at the very site of Saturday’s game as an assistant coach for CBU and Sarah Orozco was a senior for the Bruins.
But this particular Saturday they were both NCAA DII Women’s Water Polo coaches facing each other.
“It’s exciting,” Sarah Orozco (Ramirez) said. “It’s a classic rivalry – APU and Biola – with our faith schools. It’s pretty awesome with our faith and our teams and playing water polo.
“We both are laser focused in, so we worry about how our girls can do their best and we translate our energy and our knowledge of the sport to the teams. We both looked good (Friday).
“It’s exhilarating (seeing Priscilla). You’re coaching now and once was a player and now there’s all this kind of attention on you with the responsibility, but it’s exciting.
“I’m competitively more excited because it’s the last time we get to play (APU) this season.”
Before the game, they were taking in the moment talking alongside the pool while their respective teams readied themselves for the game.
Just two sisters talking about the sport they love and their families before the Cornerstone Cup game began.
Said Priscilla: “That’s our competitive nature. We always want to get that win. For me, it’s that healthy competition and as long as both teams are giving it their best effort that’s what we’re here for.
“This is how we feel about it. We’re just happy to get this opportunity to be within actual family and compete at this level. It’s a unique experience. We’ve never coached against each other. It’ll be fun. It makes me feel, as a newcomer, comfortable just to know there’s other women around that have already gone through the experience and have that advice and there’s a place for myself.”
An additional wrinkle into this family affair with the two programs is, who will get their baby sister into their program.
Younger sister, Salma Orozco, is a senior at Montebello High School playing water polo and will have to choose a college for next year. Could it be Biola? or will it be APU?
The recruiting is getting intense.
“Our little sister is trying to come to either school,” Sarah Orozco said. “So, she’s in the middle of making her decision. Family is really important to us, so we’ll see.”
Priscilla, like most sisters, finished Sarah’s comments about their sister and her aspirations for college.
“Her main focus wasn’t just water polo like ours,” Priscilla said. “Her main focus is going to a faith school,” Sarah added.
That, evidently, narrows it down to Biola and APU. “We happen to be both (faith schools) and playing water polo is a little bit secondary, but we’ll see.”
As for the Rainey twins, they faced each other only once last season in a non-conference game.
Talking to Biola goalie Samantha Rainey before the game, she pointed out that her sister, Shyanne, didn’t score on her in their 2022 game. Shyanne did take four shots.
“One of the shots she took was a back hand that sailed over the goal,” pointed out, Samantha Rainey.
As for the sister connection to the sport, Shyanne said, “I think it’s fun, because it shows that water polo is a family sport, and it is a close-knit family. It’s super cool to see it come out in sports.
“They (Sarah and Priscilla) played together in college and now they’re competing against each other in college in sort of a way as head coaches. That’s also neat to see that at the pool and be able to coach a sport that they both love.”
Biola scores buzzer beater over APU, 10-9
As for the game itself, it couldn’t have been more even with a 10-9 win for Biola over Azusa Pacific.
With the game tied, 9-9, Biola had the ball last and with one second left, junior utility Maria Roldan Gonzalez (2 G) swam the ball down and lobbed a long shot into the top right corner for the buzzer beater.
“I’m just so happy that my team got to win,” said an excited, Roldan Gonzalez. “That’s all we wanted for (Saturday).”
Leading, 9-8, with 2:52 left in the game, APU’s Maritza Ochoa tied the game, 9-9, to set up the dramatic finish.
Leading the team was Biola junior attacker Kourtney Pyle with three goals.
Ochoa led the Cougars also with three goals.
Two Biola players had two goals apiece – Rachel Spadt and Lizzy Birch.
“It’s always good to win, especially against APU,” Spadt said. “But because they are Biola’s rival, I wouldn’t say that they are our women’s water polo rival, because we love those girls. But a win is a win and as a school it’s always good to beat APU.”
Madeline Schultz scored two goals for the Cougars.
APU took the 2-1 lead after one period, but the Eagles and both teams offenses opened up in the second period.
In the first minute and a half, Biola scored three goals behind Pyle, Birch and Veralie Naranjo to take a 4-2 lead.
APU came storming back with three of its own goals to regain the lead, 5-4.
With 17 seconds left in the first half, Birch tied the game, 5-5.
The teams nearly alternated scoring the rest of the way, leading up to the big finish by the eagles.
Two highlights in the game, was a big stop by Biola goalie Samantha Rainey of her sister Shyanne early in the third period. However, just less than two minutes later it was Shyanne’s turn to score her first goal on her sister Samantha in their two official non-conference games played.
“It was fun,” said Shyanne, of her goal. “Samantha played a great second half. You can feel once she went into the cage, the team was right behind her and trusted her. She blocked my first one with a great block and on my goal my teammate passed it to me and I knew right when I had it I looked at Samantha, she looked at me, I looked away and she followed my eyes and I shot it into the top corner.”
Samantha smiled and said of her sisters’ goal, “I fell into her trap. I really did. I fell into the trap of Shyanne Rainey.”
As for the stuff of her sister Shyanne, Samantha answered, “I can’t believe I smiled at her when I did that.”
Priscilla and Sarah summed up the tightly played game and their first time facing each other on the pool deck as coaches in a non-conference game.
“We definitely wanted to try different strategies and wanted to see what would work,” Priscilla said. “Yeah, I think it was good competition for both teams.
“It was a unique and special experience. There was no hostility and even the refs were excited for this game. They had seen us play since we were young.”
Sarah added, “I’ve actually seen two buzzer beaters before. We just wanted to get the win over APU. It feels normal. Me and her (Priscilla), we’ve played together in the water and we read our every move. Our energy as players has been translated as coaches, which gives you a good game.”
What they said:
Debora Rainey, Samantha and Shyanne’s mom: “It’s been unique the whole season. It kind of brings everybody together a little bit as a family. We were in Arizona last week and Sarah and Priscilla’s mom was there. It was kind of a family thing it seems like.
They are both strong in their positions, so we (husband Sam) root for both of them. They both have a good attitude in the pool and out of the pool, so there’s no rivalry and no one is hurt. It’s all in fun.
Sam Rainey, Samantha and Shyanne’s dad: “It’s exciting and interesting and both (APU and Biola) evenly matched. You can see the two teams are next to each other with a lot of fellowship.”
David Gomez, Priscilla Orozco (Gomez) husband: “I’m happy for both of them. Honestly, it’s special to get to the same level. They were playing together for so many years and now they get to go against each other so it’ll be fun. It’s special to see their water polo years take off. It’s just amazing.”
Frank Ramirez, Sarah Orozco (Ramirez) husband: “Her (Priscilla) little sister (Salma) right now actually is trying to decide which school to go to. It’s a family feud. At family functions her dad has such a passion for water polo and is torn. He brings out the excitement and he is always such a great family man. It’s all fun and it’s competitive and it’s all family.
Sarah was at APU beforehand and actually recruited one or two on their roster. She was part of that (APU) culture. It’s come full circle. It’s great.”
Rachel Spadt, Biola Junior utility: “It went back and forth the entire game and I think they (Rainey twins) laugh it off. It’s always good to see a smile on their faces because they’re each other’s biggest fan. When Samantha stopped Shyanne she smiled and when Shyanne scored on her, she had a smile on her face.”