Spikers take another quarter turn

The Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball program is a creature of

habit.

For the 24th time, Laguna has advanced to the quarterfinal round

of the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.

On Tuesday at Laguna, the Breakers opened Division II play with a

25-19, 17-25, 25-22, 25-20 victory over Canyon of Canyon Country.

The Breakers were coming back from an 11-day layoff in facing the

Cowboys.

“I think that during that time off, we took it for granted that

we’d win this match,” senior starter Trey Chapel said. “We expected

Canyon to be a good team, and they were, but when we lost that one

game, it was a wake-up call for us. I think this match will be good

for us down the road.”

Laguna goes down that road -- and it’s a long one -- today, to

play at Santa Ynez.

The Breakers are 2-3 lifetime against the Pirates.

Chapel recalls playing Santa Ynez in the playoffs during his

freshman year.

“They beat us and if I remember right, they went on to win CIF,”

he said.

Against Canyon, Laguna won the first game, 25-19, but seemed

lackluster in a 17-25 loss in game No. 2.

The Breakers, now 14-7 overall, did bounce back enough to register

closer-than-expected wins in games three and four.

Chapel finished the match with 13 kills and five digs.

Luke Morris led the way with 16 kills and 15 digs, and Chapel’s

brother, Andrew, had 11 kills and four digs.

The win was Laguna’s 66th all-time in CIF-SS postseason play, and

the school has qualified for the playoffs in each of the tournament’s

31 years.

At the CIF-Southern Section Toyota Swimming and Diving

Championships at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach, Laguna Beach girls’ 4 x

100 free relay team set a new school record.

Competing in Division II, Laguna’s foursome of Breanna Duplisea,

Jessica McKee, Haley Simon and Jackie Reed, swam a 3:53.78, which

topped the previous school record by nearly five seconds.

The team went to CIF prelims with an entry time of 3:58.64, and

ended up with a 20th-place finish in the division.

“The girls got to the meet early, right at the start, in fact, and

they were so excited to be there,” Laguna Coach Andrew Priest said.

“They really wanted to get the school record and they knew they could

do it.

“They all just swam so incredibly well. They had so much

excitement and energy and all four stepped up to rise to the

occasion.”

After Duplisea ripped off a 57.64 on the first split, Priest said

that McKee swam a best split of 59.3, Simon went 59.14 and Reed, the only senior, had a personal best split of 57.69.

“Jackie stepped it up daily, as our anchor,” Priest said. “I’m

happy for all of our girls, but especially so for Jackie, because

she’s our only senior.”

In the boys’ 4 x 100 free relay prelims, Laguna lowered its entry

time of 3:30.55 by swimming a 3:29.11, good for 23rd-place.

The Breakers’ relay team included Ryan Fair, Cameron Brinkman,

Trevor Frimond and Shawn Pfendler.

“I thought the boys also did a terrific job by shaving a second

off their entry time,” Priest said. “Cameron did a great job, and

he’s just steadily improved the entire season.”

Priest said that Brinkman began the year swimming a 1:03 split. By

the end of the swim season, he had dropped his time to 53.86, which

he recorded at the CIF prelims.

Fair led off the relay with a career-best 49.9. Frimond swam a

53.5 and Pfendler went 51.7.

Pfendler also qualified for the CIF prelims in the boys’ 100-yard

backstroke.

He entered the meet with a time of 59.2, and bettered that mark

with a 58.71 swim and finished 25th overall.

“It was a good finish to the year for our teams,” Priest said. “I

owe a lot of thanks to our parents, our assistant coaches, Jenn

Andrews and Rick McKee, and our athletic director, Ron Schwartz. All

of these people have given the program tremendous support.”

In boys’ tennis, the Laguna doubles team of Kyle Paxson and Dieter

Schmitz reached the semifinal round of the Pacific Coast League

tournament before being eliminated from title contention.

In softball, Laguna’s season came to an end in a 7-2 loss at

University.

Katie Jones doubled and had an RBI to lead the Breakers, who

finished Pacific Coast League play with an 0-10 record.

Laguna led, 1-0, after one inning, but the Trojans scored once in

the second and four more times in the third to forge a 5-1 advantage.

In a previous league outing, Laguna lost to Calvary Chapel, 3-1.