Sailors seeking three-peat

Roger Carlson

CYPRESS - Two familiar late-November powerhouses lock horns

Saturday night at Cypress College with similar stakes, it’s Newport

Harbor High’s Sailors and the Manhattan Beach-based Mira Costa Mustangs

vying for the CIF Division I-AA girls volleyball championship.

It’s billed to begin at 7:30 in Gym 2 on the Cypress campus, and

features two of the nation’s most respected girls volleyball programs,

Danny Glenn and his two-time defending champion Sailors, Dae Lea Aldrich

and her heralded Mustangs, and it’s a classic matchup of power and tower

(Newport) against finesse and control (Mira Costa).

“I know this,” said Aldrich, an 18-year coach at Mira Costa with three

national crowns and nine CIF championships under her belt, “it’s going to

be great volleyball.”

Five of her teams have been to the State Finals, three with

blue-ribbon finishes.

Glenn has the same tone of voice. “The playoffs,” said Glenn, a

14-year coach with a load of laurels, as well, “as usual, go through Mira

Costa. I know this, she’ll have them ready to go. She’s very good at

motivating kids.”

In the past five years his teams have won three CIF crowns and fell in

the semifinals twice, to Mira Costa. The Sailors topped Mira Costa and

Corona del Mar in the finals the past two seasons.

Both teams are already assured a berth in the State Playoffs with

their presence in the Southern Section I-AA Finals, so it’s not the end

of the road for the loser.

Ah, but for the winner, the jewel is the Southern Section title,

symbolic of Southern California supremacy, and obvious seeding priority

in the State Tournament.

Harbor has the size, credentials, and April.

Mira Costa has a working machine with no holes. But neither is

unbeatable.

The Sailors saw their chances for national honors stung in Chicago by

Assumption High of Kentucky, 5-15, 15-4, 15-10. And they have watched CIF

Division I-A power Mater Dei celebrate on the Sailors’ floor with a

nonleague triumph.

It’s a streaky game, but Newport Harbor has made a mockery of streaks,

pulling out improbable victories after putting itself in black holes.

Mira Costa, meanwhile, 23-3 overall, has lost to Bishop Montgomery,

Stockdale of Bakersfield and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. And, the

Mustangs are without two major weapons, outside hitter Kristin Anderson

(5-foot-101/2) and opposite Tawni Schulte (5-9), both with season-ending

ankle injuries.

Still, both have explosive capabilities.

The Guns of Newport are led by the twin cannons, USC-bound April Ross

(6-1) and Duke-bound Krista Dill (6-2). They’re joined by seniors Brenda

Waterman (5-8 outside hitter) and Lisa Addeo (5-10 opposite), along with

6-1 junior Heather Cullen and sophomore setter Katie King.

And there is legitimate strength on the bench.

Mira Costa has four juniors in its starting lineup, a group which

features 5-7 outside hitters Jamie Grass and Brooke Donahue, 5-8 Khristin

Nelson and 5-101/2 Ashleigh Turner in the middle, 5-8 Dennelle Smalley at

opposite, and 5-10 Lexy Beers setting. Sophomore Claire Gillespie, a 6-0

middle blocker, comes off the bench to provide additional strength.

“We have to be patient,” said Aldrich. “We’re going to get blocked,

and I know they serve tough. I hope we’re pretty tough serving, too.

“He (Glenn) wins in the middle, and with April on the left. We would

hope to take advantage of the others and keep the ball away from April as

much as possible.”

Glenn is pinning a lot of his hopes on his team rising to the

occasion.

“I’m excited about this because we haven’t played our best,” said

Glenn, who has taken his Sailors to the CIF Southern Section playoffs in

each of his 14 years, winning it all four times and going on to claim

three state championships.

“We’ve shown flashes in the Santa Barbara Tournament and in Chicago,

but we haven’t sustained it,” said the always-upbeat Glenn.

If the Sailors are to enter the State Playoffs next week with

championship laurels, they’ll have to find a way to deal with the Mira

Costa blend, a mixture which has seen the Mustangs dig and pass their

foes into submission, despite the lack of the dominant player.

Both teams have a background of high-profile club play, the Sailors

emerging from the Balboa Bay Club-based Orange County Volleyball Club,

and the Mustangs from the Manhattan Beach clubs.

The Sailors’ cross to bear is their propensity to dawdle early with a

lack of concentration and execution.

But in many cases, it seems, that’s when then know they have the

opponent just where they want them.