Perrine to shine

Rick Devereux

The expectations are high for the Newport Harbor High boys volleyball

team in 2005.

The Sailors took an unexpected early exit in the CIF Southern

Section Division I playoffs last year, losing in four games to

visiting Long Beach Wilson in the second round, but senior Brett

Perrine will be at full strength after a season-ending knee injury

sidelined the star right side outside hitter for the postseason last

year.

“He is our main guy,” Coach Dan Glenn said. “We’re not going to

try to fool anybody. We’re going to try to get him the ball as much

as possible.”

Perrine, who has verbally committed to play for UCLA after he

graduates, is one of five returners from last years squad, which

finished 23-8.

While Perrine will get the lion’s share of sets, the emergence of

a second offensive threat will prove beneficial to the Sailors and

Perrine.

“If we can get some kills from our middles, other teams won’t key

on Brett as much,” Glenn said. “Brett can be a kind of decoy and we

can set our middles if there is no one there to block them. Then our

other players will beat you which will make Brett even more

effective.”

Basketball players Parker Stevens and Weston Dunlap are the prime

candidates to fill the middle blocker positions.

Stevens, a 6-foot-4 junior, and Dunlap, a 6-6 sophomore, are not

experienced at varsity-level volleyball and have been thrown to the

wolves early in the 2005 season.

“They’ve gotten a crash course against some of the big guys,”

Glenn said. “It’s a tough ay to learn, but both of them have a

tremendous upside.”

Also seeing action at the middle position will be James Hapke and

Chris Lee.

Ted Slater, a 6-4 junior, will change positions from middle

blocker to setter, but will have to battle 5-10 junior Sean Grubbs

for the starting spot.

“I think Ted is real far behind volleyball-wise because he was on

the basketball team in the winter and hasn’t played volleyball in a

while,” Glenn said. “He set some his freshman year and is doing a

fine job for us, but Sean is much further along volleyball-wise. But

the thing with Sean is he is smaller, and the way the game is going

right now, you want a taller setter.”

Brad Schneider is a returning varsity performer on the back row.

The 5-10 senior will add leadership and experience to a team heavy

with first-time varsity players.

“He is a key guy because he is the best passer on this team,”

Glenn said. “I think one of our positives is our ball control. That

should help us set up our offense.”

Sean Woods, who was captain of the junior varsity team last year,

Brett Auer, a standout water polo player, Travis Duffield, the place

kicker on the football team, and Blake Newman will battle for the

left outside hitter position.

Even though there is an abundance of former junior varsity players

on the squad, Glenn said the winning ways of that team will hopefully

translate into victories on the varsity level.

“We had a real good JV team last year,” he said. “The won two

tournaments and lost in the finals of another last year. They have

been in the program before and won.”

Glenn, now in his 19th year as head coach for Newport, said he is

as excited as ever about the potential for this team, even though the

Sailors have gotten off to a slow start.

“This is a marathon,” Glenn said. “We were the No. 4 seed [in the

Tournament of Champions in San Diego] and we got a little

embarrassed. Hopefully we’re developing a chip on our shoulders. If

you’re playing against very good opponents, you can get discouraged.

Volleyball is an easy game to play when things are going well.”