It’s always been the Babas and the Borisoffs. Or at least that’s how Helen Borisoff recalls it.
Her daughters, Blaire and Maia, are half of a furious four leading the Dana Hills High girls water polo team. Maddie and Sydney Baba represent the second pair of sisters, and combinations of the four have caused problems for opponents this season.
Out of the pool, they’re almost inseparable as well.
“We do everything together. This year has been a lot of fun,” Maia said. Group trips are the norm, usually leading to a restaurant or to the beach.
Though not by intention, each girl has contributed in a different way for the Dolphins, which has helped lead to an 11-5 start and a 2-0 mark in South Coast League play.
Together in the pool, they are having the time of their lives. Three of the four have played water polo since they were 8 years old. Blaire is the team’s senior goalkeeper and was a late bloomer, starting as her freshman year began due to an injury that forced her to stop playing other contact sports.
Maddie is the driver, coincidentally both in the pool and in the car during hangouts. In the morning, Maia joins the Babas going to school because Blaire’s class schedule forces her to leave much earlier.
In the pool, Maddie’s ability to drive to the cage has made her the Dolphins’ top scorer this season.
Younger sister Sydney effortlessly sets up most of those goals, leading the team in assists.
“It definitely helps. I see (Maddie) and it’s comforting to pass her the ball, and she’ll shoot or give it back. I can trust her, and I know she knows what the best options are,” Sydney said. “We all have that chemistry where we all know where the others are in the pool at all times.”
Maia, in turn, is the defensive catalyst, leading the team in steals. Older sister Blaire ranks third in the county with 168 saves – an average of 10.5 per contest.
The three field players are very protective of their senior goalie, and it’s common at games to see the three shielding opposing centers away from the ball to set Blaire up for an easy steal.
“We always throw ourselves in front of defenders and tell her to get the ball,” Maddie said. “People swim over us, and we try to hold them to make sure they don’t get to her.”
At the start, it was the Babas and Maia who took after their fathers, Nick Baba and Scott Borisoff, who both played in high school and college. The Babas’ father played with the U.S. Men’s National Team for six years, coached the Dolphins in 2011-12 and still helps with the program on occasion.
Naturally, the older daughters, Maddie and Blaire, became fast friends at John Malcolm Elementary School after the Borisoffs moved into town from Newport Beach while Blaire was in kindergarten.
It took a bit longer for Sydney and Maia to develop that same chemistry, having played on opposing water polo teams at Laguna Beach Water Polo Club before moving on to SET, where they’ve now played together for a year.
“Water polo really brought us all together,” Maddie said. “When we found out everyone played water polo, that was the big moment.”
Blaire, though, grew up playing soccer, a sport she pursued until a bad slide tackle caused severe damage to the tendons in her right ankle during her eighth-grade year. As a result, she was told she couldn’t play contact sports.
That left two options: swimming or water polo. After her first season, she volunteered to be the team’s starting goalkeeper.
“I was surprised,” Maddie said about seeing Blaire in the pool during their freshman year. “I was so excited when I saw her.”
Younger sister Maia took Blaire under her wing and showed her the ropes, or the cage in this case. It was an interesting case of role reversal, but Blaire was just fine with it.
In the pool, Maia said she’s perhaps overprotective, trying to do anything to prevent her sister from taking contact.
“I always looked up to her in water polo because she’s been a dominant player,” Blaire said. “She had a leader role, and I learned from her.”
Maia and Maddie switch off on two-meter defense. In fact, the girls have a little fun in the tank, often switching defensive assignments in games to take turns handling a particularly tough opponent.
“We warn each other about others’ playing styles,” Maia said. “If someone is aggressive, we’ll switch off and take turns so one of us doesn’t continually get hit.”
Because the chemistry is so tight between all four, scoring at times looks seamless. Maddie can drive in toward center and know exactly where Sydney will place the ball without so much as looking in her direction.
On defense, Blaire knows that Maia will do everything in her power to keep Blaire’s job as simple as possible.
“Everyone knows what’s going to happen,” Blaire said. “We know where they’re going to go so we don’t even have to think about it – it’s just instinct.”
Subsequently, because the four display so much chemistry and confidence in the pool, the rest of the young Dolphins squad is starting to follow suit, most notably sophomore Alex Peros, who has contributed 33 goals, 14 assists and 25 steals.
“They know each other well and they know the game well, and they want to do stuff that’s more advanced,” Dolphins coach Chad Beeler said of the quartet. “In order for them to do that, the other girls had to get through the basic stuff first, but they help with coaching and do a great job of keeping everyone on the same page.”
However, while the girls are usually on the same page and know just about everything about one another, including an uncanny ability to finish each other’s sentences, some things still tend to slip through the cracks.
“Wait, your dad played water polo?” Maddie posed to Maia Borisoff after the team’s practice on Friday.
You learn something new every day.
Contact the writer: 949-492-5135 or npercy@ocregister.com
