Boys volleyball: Tars outlasted

Richard Dunn

SIMI VALLEY - In a highly charged, emotion-filled match, Newport

Harbor High’s boys volleyball team met its equal and then some Friday

night against host Royal in the CIF Southern Section Division II

quarterfinals.

“This was as good a high school volleyball match -- in fact, this was

as good high school athletics as you’re ever going to see,” Royal Coach

Travis Ferguson said after the fourth-seeded Highlanders’ victory in five

games, 15-13, 10-15, 15-13, 10-15, 15-12.

The two-hour 15-minute match included a key 62-minute third game,

which gave Royal (22-3) a 2-1 lead.

But Newport Harbor (26-7) rallied to win the fourth game, after Royal

came back from an 11-4 deficit to pull within 11-9.

“It was a very tough match and it could have gone either way,” said

Newport harbor Coach Dan Glenn, whose team was supported by a large

Newport crowd. “The kids played nice. It came down to who would make

plays at the end. It was a fun match to watch, but I’m disappointed for

my seniors.”

Newport Harbor, which lost to Royal earlier this year in two games in

a best-of-three San Diego Tournament of Champions, let a 13-9 lead slip

away as the Highlanders scored six unanswered points.

After five ties in the second game, Newport Harbor pulled ahead, 11-7,

but Royal came back again to pull within one. Newport senior Greg

Perrine, who finished with a team-high 26 kills, ended the second game

with a kill down the middle.

Senior Brian Gaeta had 18 kills for Newport Harbor, while 6-foot-8

sophomore Jamie Diefenbach added 15 kills.

Royal was led by 6-4 senior middle blocker Kyle Vondrak, who finished

with 44 kills, including 19 in the mammoth game three, while teammate

Kevin Baxter, a 6-2 senior outside hitter, had 33 kills and 17 digs.

Royal’s Shawn Farrell had 14 kills, while teammate Darren Miller had 20

digs.

After Royal’s grueling third-game victory, which featured 96 sideouts

along with 28 points, the Sailors were able to fight back and tie the

match at 2.

“After that third game, because it was so emotional, that fourth game

was bound to happen,” Ferguson said. “(The Sailors) came into the fourth

game hungry, but we came into the fourth game happy that we won the third

game. When we started this program 15 years ago, Newport Harbor was the

model program we fashioned ourselves after.”

In the fifth game, Newport Harbor jumped out to a 3-0 lead and

maintained its edge until Royal tied it, 8-8. It was tied five other

times thereafter. Royal took a 13-12 lead on a Newport hitting error,

then Vondrak recorded one of his three solo blocks for a 14-12 lead,

before putting away the Sailors with a match-ending kill.

“We knew that we could not outfight this team,” Glenn said, “so we had

to outplay them. It was just a great high school volleyball match.”