Sailors slide past Highland

Barry Faulkner

The slogan on the T-shirts worn by the Highland High girls

volleyball team read “Beyond Limits.” That’s about where the

Bakersfield-based Scots found themselves Tuesday night in the first

round of the Southern California Division II regionals of the CIF

State Championships at Newport Harbor High.

The top-seeded hosts (27-6), fresh off four straight sweeps en

route to the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA title, needed barely

more than an hour to earn a 15-4, 15-6, 15-11 triumph over the

Central Section runner-up. The win puts the Sailors into Saturday’s

regional semifinal at Newport Harbor. Coach Dan Glenn’s Tars, seeking

the program’s fifth state crown, will host either San Pasqual or

South Torrance for the right to go to the Dec. 3 regional final.

“That’s why they’re (seeded) No. 1,” Highland Coach Dale Baker

said after the Sailors’ fifth straight postseason sweep. “They’re so

outstanding, it’s hard to do anything against them. And who is a

better coach than Dan Glenn? I don’t know of one.”

Though Highland (16-11) started a 6-foot-1 setter, a 6-0 middle

blocker and a standout 6-0 outside hitter, Newport Harbor dominated

at the net.

Kristin McClune, the Tars’ 6-3 Pepperdine-bound senior middle

blocker, piled up a match-high 18 kills. A handful of those came on

the back slide, in which the middle hitter starts for the middle,

redirects to the right side and hammers a back set, usually before

blockers can get into position to challenge.

“They use (the back slide) better than anyone we play,” Baker

said. “(McClune) is quite a player.”

Glenn said the back slide, which produced eight of Newport’s 43

kills, was a strategic ploy to avoid Highland’s tall blockers.

“They have a big right-side block and a big middle blocker and our

outside hitters aren’t so big,” Glenn said. “Kelly (King, who amassed

29 assists for the winners), did a nice job of going to the back

slide. It was effective for us tonight.”

The Sailors’ serving also bothered the visitors, as the hosts

rolled up six aces, five service winners and several free-ball

opportunities created by poor passes.

“They serve as tough as anyone we’ve played all year,” Baker said.

Glenn also acknowledged his team’s advantage from the service

line, including booming jump serves from junior Alyson Jennings (two

aces and two winners).

“We served tough,” Glenn said. “Serving was how I thought we won

the match Saturday.”

Junior Lauren Miller added two aces, while King and McClune had

one ace apiece. Emily Turner had two service winners and McClune

added one to help keep the visitors in check.

Jennings had eight kills, one stuff block and six assists to round

out an impressive performance.

“She really came to play,” Glenn said of his 5-7 opposite.

Turner chipped in five kills and 5-11 senior middle Shelley

Langford added four off the bench. Christina Fulce added three kills,

while Miller and Elizabeth Clayton had two apiece for the Tars. Kiley

Hall rounded out the Harbor attack with one kill.

Kara McKeehan, a 6-0 junior outside hitter, led the Scots with 12

of their 16 kills. McKeehan, a left-hander, received most of 6-1

sophomore Sonya Slegers’ sets, even when she was in the back row.

Newport scored the first eight points of the match and ended the

13-minute first game with a 6-0 run.

Highland cut a 3-0 second-game deficit to 3-2, but Harbor exploded

to produce a 10-2 edge and wound up claiming the game in 19 minutes.

Highland, however, appeared to gain some confidence in the third

game, as it took a 3-1 lead then turned a 9-6 deficit into a 9-9 tie.

But a McClune kill for a sideout stopped the Scots’ momentum and

Langford put away an assist by Fulce to put the Sailors back in front

for good, 10-9.

A service winner on a Jennings jumper wrapped things up on the

fourth match point.