This Beach a Volleyball Hot Spot

It hasn’t been the best of years for the folks of Newport Beach.

Their police chief was slapped with a sexual harassment suit. Their former city utilities director pleaded guilty to embezzlement. And the chief financial officer of the local school district was charged with allegedly using school funds to support his lavish lifestyle.

As if watching the city’s Maserati dealer declare bankruptcy wasn’t bad enough.

What’s a Newport Beach type to do?

Get thee to a volleyball match. Or a football game. Reflect for a moment on cross-country and water polo.

OK, it’s no sunset dinner cruise on the bay. But it still might lift your spirits.

See, both Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high schools have excelled in sports this season. Together they make Newport Beach, by our vote anyway, the most successful sports city in Orange County.

Last weekend, Corona del Mar won a State title in girls’ cross-country; Newport Harbor’s boys did the same. Both schools were, as always, among the county’s best this year in water polo.

And Friday? Newport Harbor plays Corona del Mar in a semifinal game of the Southern Section Division IV football playoffs.

I see you’re still moping. OK, there’s more. Tuesday night, girls’ volleyball teams from Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar won their Southern California Regional semifinal matches to advance to the State finals on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

Newport Harbor, top-seeded in Division III, did it the hard way, letting South Torrance win a game before putting the match away, 15-12, 15-2, 13-15, 15-9. Corona del Mar was more to the point, beating Stockton St. Mary’s, 15-8, 15-13, 15-13, in Division I.

Now we could analyze each game, point and serve. We could tell you the Corona del Mar High School gym was packed with faithful fans. But you ought to go see for yourself this Saturday.

Newport Beach is the capital of girls’ volleyball in this county, and one of the hot spots in the state. Corona del Mar is ranked No. 1 in the nation this year. Newport Harbor, while not ranked nationally, isn’t far behind.

This isn’t a sport of pony-tailed princesses batting around a ball as if it were a day at the beach. Girls’ volleyball, Orange County-style, is a hard-hitting, back-breaking, dive-till-you-drop kind of game. Fingernails don’t have a chance.

Consider Newport Harbor. When senior Dani Foley hits a ball, folks within a half-mile radius look at each other and say, “Did you just feel that earthquake?” Listen closely. If you hear the ball let out a nervous whimper, you know it’s being set in Foley’s direction.

Misty May is even more amazing. She’s a sophomore. She looks like she’d rather be having tea parties with her stuffed animals than playing a sweaty game like volleyball. If they were ever to bring back “Little House on the Prairie,” May would be perfectly cast as the sweet-faced child who wins the class spelling bee.

But watch her hit. You’ll leave the gym cringing.

The Corona del Mar crew doesn’t have one particular standout. They’re all particular standouts. Five of the six starters have played together--on the club level and in high school--the last five years.

They know each other’s every move. They read each other’s minds. They wear each other’s clothes. Actually, they all once had the same name, too, but the school made them change them for clerical purposes.

And Corona del Mar Coach Lance Stewart? He grew up in Laguna Beach, played a pretty good game of volleyball, too, but somehow turned out looking like a Texan--cowboy boots, belt buckle adorned with leaping trout, Copenhagen ring on his back pocket. Next to Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn--the perfect Newport Beach beach boy--Stewart looks as if he should be out roping cattle.

Fortunately, both of them can coach. But come and see for yourself.

Before the next scandal comes along.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing her at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626 or by calling (714) 966-5847.