Victory goes to those who serve

Barry Faulkner

The Newport Harbor High girls volleyball team wastes little time

getting to the point. The Sailors are, in fact, as dangerous at the

service line as they are swinging away at a hovering set.

A survey of Sailor serves in Saturday’s CIF State Division I quarterfinal

victory over visiting Mater Dei revealed Coach Dan Glenn’s reigning

Southern Section and state champions produced 21 points directly from

what volleyball aficionados refer to as “serving tough.” That’s nearly

46% of the Sailors’ 46 points in a 15-7, 16-14, 15-6 triumph, which

propelled toward the opportunity to defend their state crown Saturday

against Lincoln High of Stockton.

Senior April Ross is the most obvious serving ace. The 6-foot-1,

USC-bound star’s jump-serve technique transforms the often harmless rally

starter into a rocket blast which must be dug, not simply passed.

Ross served a team-high nine points, seven of which were earned by either

a service winner or a resulting overpass (an errant pass back over the

net, which is pounded for an easy kill by a Harbor attacker). She ended

the match by bombing a service winner.

But while Ross is the lone jump server, hard-hit floaters, which often

dive rapidly after clearing the net, or well-placed drives, which found

holes in the Monarchs’ service-receive formation, allowed the Tars to

dominate from a distance.

Sophomore setter Katie King earned five points directly from serves and

served eight points in all.

Seniors Krista Dill and Brenda Waterman, as well as junior Heather

Cullen, served seven points apiece, with Cullen posting the only true ace

(the ball hits the floor without being touched).

Senior starter Lisa Addeo served three points, while senior Andrea Schutz

came off the bench to produce five points from the service line.

Remarkably, Newport missed only five serves and only one of those hit the

net, the most unforgivable serving miscue.

Glenn said hard work -- or, more specifically, 20 minutes of serving

drills during each practice, in which misses result in extra running for

the offender -- is the key to his team’s service success.

“As a coach, there are very few things you can control in volleyball and

serving is one of them,” Glenn said. “It allows us to not only score

points, but to dictate where play starts. Serving to the right spot can

help you lower the number of sets the other team’s best hitters get.”

Glenn pushes his players to be aggressive with their serves, which often

leads to more errors than simply putting the ball in play. But, by

putting constant pressure on the defense, the tactic has paid off in the

long run, especially during the postseason. Serving is obviously a big

reason why the Sailors have been unbeatable in the playoffs since a 1997

state tournament loss.

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Corona del Mar High’s Paul Orris is in his 30th season of coaching high

school boys basketball. But he’s anything but set in his ways.

One of Orris’ new wrinkles this season, his 14th as the Sea Kings’

varsity coach after 16 years guiding the CdM freshmen, is playing senior

Elliott Patterson, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound veteran of the football

trenches, at a guard spot.

“It came to me at 3 a.m., which is often my best time for brainstorming,”

Orris said. “A guard doesn’t have to be small. We want to have (6-3

senior returner) Brooks Morris on a wing, where he can get more shots. If

you’re guarding (Morris), would you rather have a 5-10 guy setting

screens on you or a guy 6-3, 235? (The latter) sure presents an

interesting mental image.”

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Estancia High boys basketball coach Rich Boyce has long been an Orris

admirer. Boyce has regularly scheduled CdM in nonleague action in

previous years, but will now meet CdM twice a year, since the Sea Kings

have been moved to the Pacific Coast League.

Boyce, while breaking down the PCL competition during conversation for

the preseason preview, had this to say about the Sea Kings:

“You could give Paul four rocks and a hedge and he’d make them into a

competitive team.”

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Corona del Mar High boys water polo coach John Vargas commands respect

worthy of a former Olympian who now guides the men’s U.S. national team.

A no-nonsense leader for whom frivolity will never be an adjective,

Vargas somehow managed to avoid the traditional post-victory dip after

the Sea Kings defeated Servite, 8-6, to win the CIF Southern Section

Division II title Nov. 24 at Belmont Plaza.

But, it wasn’t Vargas’ stern poolside demeanor which precluded his

fully-clothed submersion -- an inconvenience which has universally

befallen any coach I’ve ever seen win a CIF crown.

“I think the team was just too involved in celebrating among ourselves,”

CdM co-captain Garrett Gentry said of the oversight.

Perhaps Vargas should step cautiously around the CdM pool in the

off-season, just in case his players decide to finish their business.