Sailors steady after struggles

Bryce Alderton

Heading into its Sea View League boys volleyball opener, Newport

Harbor High Coach Dan Glenn wasn’t quite sure how his team would

respond after a rare win against Mira Costa last week.

Well, he didn’t have to wait too long as the host Sailors

weathered through an initial lull to forge a 25-22, 25-16, 25-16

victory over Foothill Tuesday night.

Junior outside hitter Brett Perrine led all players with 17 kills

to go with five blocks for the Sailors (9-6), who defeated Mira

Costa, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division I, for the first

time in four years Friday night to move ahead three spots to seventh

in the same division.

“Coming off the other night, I was worried about a mental let down

[Tuesday],” Glenn said. “Every team in the league has a chance. You

can’t look past any opponent.

“We struggled a little bit at times, but each game we steadied.”

The Knights (1-9) stuck with Newport in the first game and held a

9-2 edge in Game 2 before the Sailors scored 10 of the next 13 points

to pull away. Senior Gavin Galey served five straight points in that

span.

Glenn credited senior Morgan Govaars, who led the Sailors with

nine digs including several in Newport’s comeback in the second game.

The Sailors took their first lead in the second game at 14-13 and

took control from there, getting three kills by Galey while Perrine,

who stands 6-foot-6, served the final five points to give the hosts a

two-game edge.

Once Newport found its rhythm, the Knights struggled to keep pace.

“You can’t stop against a good team like Newport,” Foothill Coach

Scott Bruce said. “[Perrine] was just too good tonight.”

With the loss of 6-8 senior middle blocker Jamie Diefenbach for

the season due to a knee injury, Perrine has gotten most of the sets

and used his leaping ability to tower over the net on several

occasions against the Knights.

“We are a pretty tall team, even though we lost Jamie,” Perrine

said. “We use height to block a lot of balls.

“We came out slow, but ended up doing the right things in the end.

We need to come out fired up and ready to go every game.”

Ted Slater and Jon Langford each tallied three blocks while Adam

Schlesinger, Newport’s 6-foot-6 senior setter bound for Long Beach

State, tallied a game-high 30 assists to go with four kills.

Newport began to establish more consistent passes as the match

wore on.

“As passing gets better, the team plays better,” Perrine said.

Schlesinger said staying motivated throughout the whole match is

Newport’s challenge.

“As long as we play consistently and are fired up the entire time,

we can pull away,” Schlesinger said.

The Sailors took the lead for good in the third game at 11-10 and

Foothill got within one point only once thereafter -- at 14-13.

Newport led, 18-15, and scored the next six points on the serving of

senior Matt Cheffer, who tallied three aces in that span.

Glenn substituted Cheffer after Perrine served once to start the

run.

“I had him in there for outside hitting, I didn’t know he was

going to serve like that,” Glenn said.

Govaars slammed six kills while Langford added five to go with

three from Brett Auer and two from James Hapke. Slater had one kill.

Wins over Mira Costa and Santa Margarita gave Newport confidence

it can play with any team, but Glenn realizes that the loss of

Diefenbach requires more players to contribute.

“We are aware we can play with anybody and the kids are aware that

we can lose to anybody,” Glenn said. “We can’t relax without

[Diefenbach]. In the past when we got in a bind, we could count on

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie and the game is over. Now we have to work for our

points.”

Establishing a presence in the middle is a key, Perrine said.

“[Controlling the middle] opens us up to put balls down.”