Boys volleyball: Tars defend OC crown

Barry Faulkner

HUNTINGTON BEACH - By defeating Northwood, 15-5, 13-15, 15-10, in the title match of the Orange County Volleyball Championships Monday

night at Edison High, Newport Harbor went where no Sailor boys team has

gone before.

Yet, despite unprecedented back-to-back Orange County titles, Sailors

Coach Dan Glenn was quick to point out his team is far from where it will

need to be to make a run at the Sea View League and CIF Southern Section

Division II championships.

“We played well enough to win,” Glenn said. “But we have a long way to

go. We have a long way to go this week.”

The victory, keyed by tournament Most Valuable Player Greg Perrine’s

match-high 12 kills, began a five-day period that will see the Tars visit

reigning CIF Division III champion Santa Margarita (tonight), visit

Huntington Beach (Thursday) and host defending CIF Division III champion

Mira Costa (Friday).

“We had a lot of unforced errors, so this probably was not very good

volleyball to watch,” Glenn continued. “But I can’t remember ever winning

two (Orange County Championships) in a row. I’m excited for our kids.”

Perrine, who pounded through two Northwood blockers to extend Harbor’s

lead to 8-6 in the rally scored third game, then added his final kill to

make it 9-6, said his team, as it did last season, should gain confidence

from adding another tournament title.

“Coming in, I thought we were a little underrated,” Perrine said.

“This will definitely be a confidence booster.”

Senior outside hitter Brian Gaeta added 10 kills, while senior Erik

Peterson, an all-tournament choice, chipped in seven. Jamie Diefenbach, a

6-foot-8 sophomore middle blocker, contributed four kills and two stuff

blocks.

Senior Redge Bendheim also provided a spark, lacing two aces and three

service winners, including two darts that Northwood passers shanked late

in the third game, to all but seal the victory.

Northwood Coach John Gaido said serving was the difference.

“Their serving was excellent and we missed some serves at key times,”

Gaido said. “You can’t make those mistakes against teams like Newport,

because they will gobble those up and make you pay. I thought Newport

played very well.”

Newport, however, had one more service error than the T-wolves (6-5).

The Sailors also had five mishandled balls, five hitting errors, two

miscommunications that led to balls dropping, and a handful of violations

at the net.

“Our movement to the ball wasn’t very good,” Glenn said. “We have a

lot of matches this week, but we really need to practice.”

After a dominant first game, Newport watched the Timberwolves claw

back to force the decisive game.

But the Sailors’ experience appeared to surface in rally scoring.

“I saw a mirror image with our team and theirs, in terms of hustle,

working hard and effort,” Gaido said. But Newport just did a better

executing on top of that.”

Senior setter Loyd Wright, last year’s tournament MVP, amassed 30

assists and one stuff block to help the Sailors defend their title.