Clean sweep

Joseph Boo

HUNTINGTON BEACH - On Saturday morning at 8 a.m., Newport Harbor’s

No. 1 girls volleyball team took the court for their first match against

Redlands. Nine hours, four matches and one location change later, the

Sailors went home with a berth in tonight’s championship finals of the

Dave Mohs Memorial Volleyball Tournament.

The Sailors will tangle with Calvary Chapel at 7:30 at Edison High for

the crown.

Newport Harbor beat Redlands East Valley and Harvard-Westlake (15-11,

15-4) in it’s final pool matches at home. It took a while for Newport

Harbor to beat both teams as it’s offense struggled in the morning

matches.

“We had trouble early scoring points,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn

said. “But we were great all day at siding out. And we did a lot better

job scoring later, especially with our serving.”

The team hit it’s stride once it reached tournament play at Edison. It’s

first opponent was Bishop Montgomery, the No. 2 seed in Newport’s

bracket. The Sailors raced out to a comfortabledouble digit lead in the

first game and won, 15-2.

In the second game, the Knights played a lot tougher. They dug a lot of

Newport Harbor shots and managed to win the long rallies. But Newport

Harbor’s size was too much. Behind four kills by April Ross and five

straight points off Heather Cullen’s serves, the Sailors [ Stepping

Column ]the second game, 15-9.

The Sailors then moved on to play Santa Margarita in the semifinals. The

Eagles entered their fourth match minutes after beating Esperanza. The

first game was a sloppy affair, with both teams struggling with unforced

errors and poor rallies.

After trailing, 9-5, the Sailors awoke from their slumber. Junior setter

Kristie King recorded 20 assists and seven digs in the first game.

Helping was Ross, who had nine kills, that kept the momentum from

shifting. When King served an ace to give the Sailors a 13-10 lead, Santa

Margarita seemed deflated and lost the last two points.

“She’s really young, but she did a really good job today,” Glenn said.

The second set was a foregone conclusion. Despite a valiant effort by the

Eagles, they couldn’t put points on the board. Newport Harbor managed to

wait through the long rallies and get its offense in gear.

“You’ve got to win the long rallies against Santa Margarita,” Glenn said.

“And we did.”

King served up 17 more assists and five digs in the second game. Along

with Ross, who had eight kills and 10 digs, Cullen had seven kills and

Krista Dill got six. They triggered a 15-1 romp by the Sailors to close

out the match.

Afterward, a tired but happy Newport Harbor team fixed its sights on the

championship game, where it lost it’s only game last year to Valley

Christian.

“We played great,” Glenn said. “We just beat four of the better teams in

the state. And we’re getting another shot at the finals.”