Girls volleyball: Tars open on road

The Newport Harbor High girls volleyball team will open the CIF

State Division II Southern California regional playoffs by visiting

Liberty High of Bakersfield Tuesday at 7 p.m.

No. 4-seeded Liberty (28-7) defeated Stockdale of Bakersfield, 15-9,

15-11, 15-12, to win the Central Section Division II title Saturday. The

Patriots were Central Section Division IV champions in 2000.

No. 5-seeded Newport Harbor (21-10), fell to Mira Costa, 15-8, 15-3,

15-10, in Saturday’s Southern Section Division II-AA title match at

Cypress College.

Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors received 12 kills from 6-foot-3 junior

middle blocker Kristen McClune and 10 from senior middle blocker Liz Lord

against Mira Costa.

Liberty, guided by first-year coach Lean Slayton, an assistant for the

Centennial of Bakersfield Central Section Division II champions last

fall, has a balanced attack. The Patriots had 11 kills apiece from

Cristen Trent, Jodi Hardin and Jania Motton in Saturday’s title match, as

well as 40 assists from sophomore setter Katie Scott.

Mater Dei (31-3) is the top seed in the SoCal portion of the 16-team

tournament, while Mira Costa (29-5) is seeded No. 2. San Pasqual High

from Escondido, the San Diego Section champion, is the No. 3 seed.

The Sailors were state Division I champions in 1999, ’98 and ’94 and

they also won a Division III state crown in 1992.

The regional semifinals are scheduled Saturday.

-- by Barry Faulkner