Ross, Sailors Turn Back the Eagles

Although Santa Margarita, ranked third in the county, showed it could compete with Newport Harbor, the Eagles didn’t have enough to topple the state’s top-ranked team Friday.

Senior April Ross had 19 kills to help Newport Harbor defeat Santa Margarita, 15-9, 15-5, 13-15, 15-11, in a nonleague girls’ volleyball match at Newport Harbor.

Santa Margarita (4-2) held its own against Newport Harbor (4-0), but the Sailors defeated their former Sea View League rivals with their versatility, hustle and defense.

Senior middle blocker Krista Dill had 10 kills and eight blocks and junior middle blocker Heather Cullen added 11 kills to help balance Newport Harbor’s offense.

Brenda Waterman and Ross, who has committed to USC, each had a team-leading 18 digs to highlight the gritty defense.

“Any time you play Newport you have to be at your best,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “We were at our best at times, but not as often as we needed to be.”

Monique Gerlach, who had a team-high 16 kills, Michelle Davis, who had 12 kills, and Chrissy Bloomgren provided some offense in Game 3 and Caroline Skacel, who had 20 digs, sparked the defense to help Santa Margarita battle back to win the third game.

But Newport Harbor setter Katie King served for three consecutive points and Ross served for three more to turn a tie score into a 13-8 lead before the Sailors closed out the match.

Santa Margarita started strong and led in the first game, 5-3.

But then the Eagles began to struggle with their passing. Newport Harbor’s Andrea Schutz served for seven consecutive points, including two aces, and the Sailors moved ahead 10-5 before winning the game comfortably.