Breakers fall in CIF action

Michael Sciacca

The 2004 season has come to an end for three Laguna Beach High Beach

fall sports teams, which were eliminated in recent CIF-Southern

Section competition.

In CIF-SS boys’ cross country action, Laguna has qualified for the

finals race.

In girls’ tennis at the Laguna Beach courts Tuesday, top-ranked

and undefeated Peninsula secured its 21st victory of the year by

eliminating the Breakers, 13-5, in a Division I quarterfinal match.

Claire Rietsch won two of three at No. 1 singles to lead Laguna.

The Breakers, the No. 3 entry from the Pacific Coast League,

defeated Baseline League champ Upland and SeaView League winner

Woodbridge en route to the quarterfinal round meeting with Bay League

champion Peninsula.

Tuesday night at Dugger Gymnasium, Laguna’s girls’ volleyball team

was dropped from title contention by top-seed Marymount, which swept

the Breakers, 25-17, 25-14, 25-21, in a Division IV-AA semifinal

match.

The loss left Laguna just one match short of reaching the

division’s title match.

Despite the loss, the season proved to be outstanding for the

program, which finished 16-10 overall.

The program had a total of five victories in the two previous

years.

“They were just bigger and better and more physical than we were,”

Laguna Coach Lance Stewart said of Marymount. “But, the girls’ gave

it a good run.

“I’m very pleased to see this team reach the semifinals. It’s a

real nice jump forward for the program from the previous two years,

when there wasn’t any playoffs and five total wins.”

The match was the final in a Laguna uniform for seniors Joy

Henderson, Kristina Kieswetter and Blakely Burns.

Henderson was a four-year varsity player.

“She played every position in those four years, too,” Stewart said

of Henderson. “Joy’s just a wonderful, wonderful all-around person

and player.

“Kristina, a quick hitter, is just a real sweet girl who really

worked hard and had a great year for me. Blakely really hung in there

this year and she had great team spirit. After her injury, she

started for us in the playoffs and helped us to some big wins.”

Laguna’s road to the semifinal round saw the Breakers sweep past

Milken Community and St. Paul before outlasting La Salle in a

five-game quarterfinal match.

Laguna had entered the playoffs as an at-large entry.

In boys’ water polo, Laguna’s season came to an end in a 10-5 loss

to El Toro in the first-round of the CIF-SS Division I playoffs.

The Breakers trailed by only 3-1 at the half but were outscored,

7-4, in the final two quarters.

Mike Dick’s two goals topped Laguna’s offense.

Ryan Fair and the Frimond twins, Jeremy and Trevor, each scored

once.

Bret Burge had 16 saves for the Breakers.

In boys’ cross country, Laguna won the second of two heats at the

Division IV meet at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut.

The Breakers ran to a team time of 1:24.16 to win race No. 28 of

the day.

Max Mullender led all Laguna runners with a second-place finish at

16:16. Jeremy Eaton was next in fifth-place (16:28), Ryan Hedden

finished seventh (16:47), Aman Bhatia was 13th (17:04), Cory Hedden

was 27th (17:41) and Shawn Pfendler was in 53rd-place (18:56).

“Obviously, I am very pleased with our performance,” Laguna Coach

Dave Brobeck said. “Winning our heat was not expected, especially

with Sean Fuszard and Shane Riehl sitting the race out. Because it’s

just a preliminary race, it was not necessary to win.”

The top six finishers -- out of 11 in each heat -- advanced to

this weekend’s CIF Finals at Mount SAC.

“What I found most encouraging of our performance was how

comfortable each runner felt,” Brobeck said. “Whereas every other

team in our race wore racing flats and were running for their lives,

we were relaxed, in control, and wearing our training shoes. However,

this has been in the plans all along.

“I am certain that my guys feel so good right now because we pick

our spots throughout the season to use our best races. I wanted to

give our guys the ability to be the team with the freshest legs, with

the best conditioning, and with the least amount of all-out races

when it counts the most. It’s our depth that has allowed us luxuries

with racing that few others programs can enjoy.”