Girls volleyball: FINALS BOUND

Tony Altobelli

NEWPORT BEACH - In the biggest game of the year for Newport Harbor

High girls volleyball team, the Sailors needed all their weapons to

produce, and in Tuesday’s Division I Southern California Regional Finals,

all of them did.

In addition to the Sailors’ big three of April Ross, Krista Dill and

Heather Cullen, seniors Lisa Addeo, Brenda Waterman and Erin Haller all

came up with the shots, digs and blocks needed to outlast Fresno’s

Bullard High, 7-15, 15-9, 15-10, 12-15, 15-7, to claim their

second-straight Southern California crown.

“All the kids played well tonight,” Glenn said. “We knew coming into

this game that we had our hands full and we needed to get big games from

all our players, particularly our seniors.”

After falling to the Sailors in the semifinals of the Santa Barbara

Tournament of Champions in three straight games, Glenn realized that the

Knights were for real and they could very well meet again come playoff

time.

“That team has scared me all year long,” Glenn said. “I said earlier

that they were the most athletic team we’ve played all year and tonight

they proved it.”

Ross led the Sailors with 17 kills, Cullen had 13 kills and Dill added

nine for the Sailors (36-2).

Addeo led the Tars with 10 blocks (five solos), many of them coming

against the Knights’ top outside hitter, Notre Dame-bound Jessica Kinder,

who still had 19 kills to lead all players.

“Lisa might very well be the best blocker I’ve coached since I’ve been

here, boy or girl,” Glenn said. “She has great hands and just has a

natural ability to read the play and setting up the block.”

Newport fell behind early in game one, 6-0, on yet another slow start

by the Sailors.

The Sailors rallied to take a 7-6 lead, before the Knights (27-3)

ripped off the final nine points to take the opener, 15-7.

“I don’t think we played all that bad in game one as opposed to them

really taking it to us,” Glenn said.

Game two was tied, 6-6, before the Sailors took advantage of Bullard

miscues to take a 12-6 lead.

Jessica Kinder’s strong serves brought the Knights back to 12-10,

before a Dill block, an Addeo block and a kill from Haller won the game

for the Sailors, 15-10, evening the match at a game apiece.

“Haller’s playing next to two all-CIF outside hitters,” Glenn said.

“She’s done a great job of picking her spots and tonight, she really had

some key shots for us.”

Both teams played game three knotted at 8-8, until Haller’s strong

serves and key blocks from Dill and Addeo allowed the Sailors to take a

14-8 lead.

The Knights got as close as 14-10, but Ross ended game three with a

shot on the line for the win, 15-10.

With the Sailors leading game four, 11-8, Bullard called timeout to

regroup.

With her sister, Kristen, setting, Jessica Kinder continued to rip

into the Sailors’ defense, leading the Knights on a 7-1 run to send the

match to a fifth game, 15-12.

“We tried some different alignments and ran out of substitutions,”

Glenn said. “What we tried didn’t work too well.”

In the deciding game, Ross rose to the occasion, leading the Sailors

to a 5-1 lead with her rocket jump-serves putting the Knights on their

heels.

Bullard never gave up and cut the lead to 7-6, before the Sailors

reopened the lead, 13-6, on the strong serves from Dill, blocks from

Addeo and key kills from Cullen and Waterman.

After a service winner by the Knights cut the lead to 13-7, Cullen and Ross ripped back-to-back kills to send the Sailors to Cypress College for

the Division I State Finals, where they will meet the Northern California

champs, Stockton’s Lincoln High.

Lincoln knocked off St. Mary’s of Stockton, 15-10, 15-13, 14-16,

15-10.

Newport Harbor knocked off Lincoln in the State finals last year,

15-11, 16-18, 15-5, 19-17.