PREP ROUNDUP : Newport Harbor Wins Volleyball Title

Top-ranked Newport Harbor faced its first challenge of the season in the finals of the Orange County Volleyball Championships, but the Sailors came back to defeat Laguna Beach, 15-17, 17-15, 15-4, Saturday at Edison High.

The Sailors were nearly swept by the third-ranked Artists, who had match point in the second game, but were unable to put away two opportunities at the net.

Trailing, 14-11, in Game 2, the Artists rallied to tie Newport Harbor after the Sailors mishandled two sideout chances and Ashley Englander dinked the ball into the open back row.

Laguna Beach then got an ace from Lisa Ravensburg to force match point, but the Artists could not put away the Sailors, who were able to sideout on Sara Fairborn’s kill.

Newport Harbor breathed a little easier after Melissa Schutz won a joust at the net to tie the score and Schutz then teamed with Jenny Hecker on a block for game point.

Four sideouts later, setter Christy Collisson’s attempt to send back an errant pass went wide forcing a third game in 1-hour 45-minute match.

That’s when Newport Harbor got into gear behind Misty May, who engineered the victory with nine of her match-high 29 kills.

Newport Harbor reached the finals by posting one-sided sweeps over Sunny Hills, seventh-ranked Huntington Beach and 10th-ranked Esperanza.

The Artists had a much tougher road to the championship match. They had to defeat three ranked teams in a row.

They swept No. 4 Calvary Chapel, 15-8, 15-5, and then had to come back against sixth-ranked Mater Dei, 6-15, 15-8, 15-6. In the semifinals, Laguna Beach won a see-saw match against eighth-ranked Edison, 18-16, 15-10.