Girls volleyball: Harbor handles CdM, prepares for playoffs.

Steve Virgen

CORONA DEL MAR - With the girls volleyball postseason ahead,

Newport Harbor High Coach Dan Glenn wanted his team to improve its play

on the road. The Sailors didn’t disappoint their coach on Friday night.

Harbor defeated Back Bay rival Corona del Mar, 15-12, 15-7, 9-15, 15-8 in a nonleague match at CdM.

The Sailors played as if they were hosting the match as they stifled

any Sea King momentum.

“This is the best we’ve played on the road,” Glenn said. “It’s a great

win for us and we’re excited about the playoffs.”

Harbor will be informed Sunday on who the Sailors will play Tuesday in

the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs.

On Friday night, the Sailors controlled the match from the start. They

built an 11-4 lead in the first game. CdM came back to get to within two

points as the Sea Kings outscored Harbor, 7-2. The Sailors then ended the

game before CdM could get hotter.

“I was really fired up for this game,” said Harbor junior Christine

Woller, who finished with a team-high 15 kills. “That’s all I could think

about today, ‘We’re going to beat CdM. We’re going to beat CdM.’ ”

Harbor’s only loss came in third game. And Glenn said he should take

most of the blame. The Sea Kings took advantage of Harbor mistakes in

game three.

With the Sea Kings trailing, 9-6, the Sailors began to fall out of

sync. CdM outscored Newport, 9-0 for the win as the Sailors committed

error after error. A lift, net and timeout violations led to three points

for the Sea Kings. Three two-hit calls led to three more points and a

four-hit error plus two hits that landed out ended Harbor’s chance to

stay in the game.

“That game was my fault,” said Glenn, who was charged for a timeout

violation when making an illegal substitution. CdM was awarded a sideout

when he made another illegal substitution when the Sailors were trailing,

11-9.

“I’m not taking anything away from (Harbor),” Glenn said. “The Corona

kids are good. If you make those type of errors, they’re going to beat

you.”

The Sailors took the fourth game as Harbor broke away from a 6-6 tie

to win, 15-8. The Sea Kings failed to return Harbor serves eight times in

the Sailors’ 10-2 run to close out the match.

Still, CdM Coach Steve Conti was impressed with his team’s effort and

remains confident that the Sea Kings are improving.

“We played real well at times, tonight,” he said. “Our execution needs

to be better. Hopefully we can learn something from this match.”