AMAZIN’ SAILORS

Tony Altobelli

IRVINE - In a week flooded with magical comebacks and heartbreaking

finishes in the Major League Baseball playoffs, Newport Harbor High’s

girls volleyball team managed to come all the way back from the dead to

pull out Thursday’s crucial Sea View League match against Irvine, 15-4,

11-15, 13-15, 17-15, 15-8.

Newport Harbor, ranked No. 1 in the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA

poll, fought off eight match points, a two-games-to-one deficit and an

astounding 14-3 game-four lead by No. 4 Irvine to pull off the miracle

win before a stunned Irvine-heavy crowd.

“I spent all weekend watching the Mets battle back, so I thought it

was possible,” Coach Dan Glenn said. “Besides, I never feel like my team

is out of it. All I told them at that point was to make Irvine earn it.”

During the comeback, Heather Cullen and April Ross managed to come up

with shot after shot to keep the Sailors in it.

A Cullen kill and two Vaqueros errors, pulled the Sailors to 14-6 in

game four.

After a sideout for Newport, Krista Dill and Jennifer Sandro teamed up

for a block for a point and Ross followed up with a kill to make it 14-8.

Newport survived another match point and after an Irvine return sailed

wide, Ross smashed one home again, to make it 14-10.

After Irvine missed yet another opportunity to end the match, Cullen’s

tip-block and another Ross kill cut the lead to 14-12.

Newport survived its eighth match point and after an Irvine error into

the net cut the lead to one, back-to-back blocks by Cullen gave Newport

its first lead since midway through game three, 15-14.

“I’ve been doing this coaching thing for a while now and nothing

surprises me anymore,” Glenn said, regarding the comeback.

Irvine (7-4, 3-2) stopped the hemorrhaging with a service ace to tie

the game at 15-15, before Brenda Waterman came up big with a dig and kill

for a 16-15 lead, then Ross ended the game, 17-15, with a resounding

smash down the middle for the winning point.

“I don’t remember coming back like this against such a tough opponent

as Irvine,” Glenn said. “We’ve come back like this before against lesser

teams, but never against such a high-caliber club.”

Ross finished with a game-high 37 kills and 21 digs, Dill had 18

kills, Waterman had 24 digs and Katie King had 66 assists and four aces

for the Sailors (19-2, 5-0).

After the heartbreaking comeback, Newport carried the momentum into

the decisive game and took a 12-3 lead, before Irvine mounted its

comeback.

In fact, with the Sailors a point away from victory at 14-7, the

Vaqueros fought off seven match points before finally falling.

Unlike game four, Newport managed to get sideout without allowing the

Vaqueros to score and get closer than 14-8.

Dill’s dink serve at the end ended the marathon match, two hours and

35 minutes after it began.

It didn’t appear like all this excitement was going to even take shape

as Newport scored 13 of the final 14 points in game one, winning handily,

15-4.

“I was very happy with the way we played that first game,” Glenn said.

“We played real hard and I think we caught Irvine a little flat at the

beginning.”

The Vaqueros quickly reinflated and never trailed in game two,

winning, 15-11.

Glenn was especially displeased with the execution of his veteran

players, something he feels should not be happening at this juncture of

the season.

“I expect more from my veteran players than what they were giving me

out there in the middle games,” Glenn said. “We have been working on

certain things in practice for over an hour and a half and we come out

and our veteran players didn’t execute out there.”

Game three saw the Sailors play well, but watched the Vaqueros play

nearly error-free volleyball to pull out the win.

“We’re trying some new things with our substitutions out there,” Glenn

said. “Honestly, I don’t know if it’s working out there. We’ll have to

see if it gets better.”

Irvine led, 13-10, before Newport came back to tie the game at 13-13.

An Irvine block, diving dig and kill later, the Vaqueros took game three,

15-13.

“Overall it was a great win for us in this gym,” Glenn said. “I

thought we were rather lucky to beat them the way we did at our place

(15-13, 16-14, 15-3, on Oct. 5), so to come here and pull off a win like

we did was a solid accomplishment.”

Next up, the Sailors travel to Laguna Hills Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. to

continue league play.