The South Coast Conference champion Long Beach City College women's water polo team had plenty to celebrate after a successful season but can add even more to a growing list of accolades. Sophomore Makenna Oberst (Los Alamitos HS) was named the SCC Player of the Year on her way to All-American and All-Southern California honors while interim head coach Dave Kasa was named the conference's Coach of the Year to head a list of 12 postseason honors for the Vikings.
Oberst, a bounce back from Concordia University-Irvine, made a huge impact in her only season with the Vikings. Oberst led the squad with 71 goals and added 32 assists as she was named first-team All-Southern California.
Sophomore Ashley Diaz (Esperanza HS) joined Oberst on the All-American and All-Southern California lists. She was also a first-team All-SCC selection for the second consecutive year and picked up second-team All-SoCal honors. Diaz totaled 41 goals, 43 assists, and 44 steals on the season.
Earning All-SCC first team honors were sophomores Cori Reynolds (Poly HS/Long Beach State) and Caroline Nash (Millikan HS), and freshman Kennedy Conroy (Millikan HS). Reynolds led the SCC with 57 assists and scored 37 goals. Nash chipped in with 22 goals while Conroy scored 24 times for the Vikings.
Named second-team all-conference was freshman goalie Felicia DePalma (St. Joseph HS) and freshman Natalie Nilan (St. Joseph HS). DePalma ranked third in the SCC with a 6.8 goals allowed per game average while Nilan totaled 16 goals and 24 steals.
Kasa earned his first women's SCC Coach of the Year honor. He was also named the Southern California and SCC Men's Coach of the Year. In 15 years as part of the LBCC staff, Kasa has now been named coach of the year 10 times.
Long Beach compiled a 19-10 overall record and went 8-1 in SCC play to lead the Vikings to their first women's water polo conference championship since 2010. Long Beach has its season come to an end with a 10-9 loss to Golden West College in the Southern California Regional Playoff semifinals.
LBCC Women's Water Polo - 2015 Postseason Honors:
All-American
Makenna Oberst
Ashley Diaz
All-Southern California
Makenna Oberst, First team
Ashley Diaz, Second team
All-South Coast Conference
Dave Kasa, Coach of the Year
Makenna Oberst, Player of the Year
Ashley Diaz, First team
Cori Reynolds, First team
Caroline Nash, First team
Kennedy Conroy, First team
Felicia DePalma, Second team
Natalie Nilan, Second team