The year of Covid-19 has brought on some very strange occurrences. A prime example is that of Cerritos College water polo player and swimmer Nayeli Cisneros. After swimming for the Falcons during the abbreviated 2020 season, Cisneros, a bounceback from San Jose State University, was all set to play water polo. But when the entire South Coast Conference opted out of competing their fall sports seasons, it opened the door for Cisneros to sign with Siena (NY) College, a private Division I school in Loudonville.

A four-time All-Almont League selection at Schurr High, Cisneros was one of the key players to help the school win the CIF Division II Championship as a sophomore and Division II State Regional Championship her senior season. She transferred to San Jose State after her senior season, but came back home after one semester.

"I had to come back because the cost of living out there was too much for my family," said Cisneros, who will have four years of eligibility with the Saints. "But after talking with Sergio Macias, I realized water polo was a way for me to make going to a 4-year affordable. He helped make the transfer from SJSU much easier. I had emailed the head coach at Siena College back in September to show interest in the school, and we emailed each other a few times but we lost communication for a while. Then, right when I thought he wasn't interested in me anymore, he reached out to me asking if I was still interested in playing there so I answered yes and immediately he started working on all the paperwork for my family and I. I really appreciated the coaches organization and swiftness with everything, so it made it easy to make a decision. I can tell he put in a lot of effort to get me there so I'm excited to sign. In high school I didn't know if I wanted to play polo, so I was being recruited by some teams but in the end I decided to go to SJSU just to study."

"Nayeli is a multi-dimensional player," commented Macias. "She is physical, but also has great speed. Nayeli has the ability to play the center position and match up with the stronger players, but also has the mobility and water polo IQ to play on the perimeter."

High school coach David Argumosa, who is also a Cerritos assistant coach, also believed that Cisneros would have been a great addition to the team this season.

"Although Nayeli was undersized for a post up player, we relied on her at times to take on that role for us," said Argumosa. "When not posting up at 2-meters she would play on the strong side as a driver/attacker. She earned all-league honors all four years. When Nayeli came back for the Thanksgiving holiday (after attending San Jose State), she stopped by the pool and we spoke about her situation. I have known her for some time because I coached her older sister and brother, so it was easy for her to speak from her heart. I told her that she could save money and play at Cerritos. I told her that a few other girls from Schurr had enjoyed their time playing for us. Marisela Olivas, Mia Carbajal, Lizbeth Gomez, Carolina Medrano and Elisa Prohroff had all enjoyed their experience at Cerritos. She reached out to a few of those girls and she decided to join the Falcons."

All set to team up with several of her championship high school teammates with the Falcons, the season that was expected to see the team make a strong run in the post-season, lost both Cisneros and returning All-American Mia Carbajal, who signed with Cal Baptist.

"I felt we would've had an amazing season because Cerritos would've also gained some really good freshmen that I played club and high school with," added Cisneros. "I think we would've changed the game at Cerritos and helped them have an amazing season like they did the year before, since the incoming girls and I have great chemistry in the game. I'm sure Mia would've felt better with us there to help and be able to do more in games, and also to motivate her to do better since we weren't there the season before to challenge each other at practices and make each other better for the games."

In the spring of 2020, Cisneros was able to compete for the Falcons in swimming and saw action in all five of their meets. She placed 27th overall in the Palomar Pentathlon, which consisted of five separate events and competed in the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and IM.

"Although it was a short season, I feel like my teammates and I grew quite close and very fond of one another," stated Cisneros. "We spent a lot of time together at practice, during school, at swim meets, and carpooling together, so it was different going from that to not seeing each other because of quarantine."

Instead, Cisneros will be joining a Sienna team that finished with a winning record last year for the first time in school history. The posted a 7-6 non-conference record and had their season come to an end before staring Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference play. She will be one of six freshmen on a team that sports 12 underclassmen.