Sailors dropped in four

Newport Harbor High’s girls volleyball team took another early-season

lump Saturday night. The Sailors fell to Mater Dei in a nonleague

match, 25-20, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18.

Call it growing pains.

The Sailors are playing with just one senior. Compare that with

Mater Dei, which has 15 seniors on its varsity roster.

“We had too many unforced errors,” said Newport Coach Dan Glenn.

“Fortunately, these are mistakes that we can improve.”

The Sailors nearly made an amazing rally in the first game. Mater

Dei was leading, 22-9, and appeared to be cruising to the victory.

Bryana Carey came up with a strong block that seemed to turn

Newport’s fate. After Carey’s block, the Monarchs seemed to be leery

of going to the net. The Sailors rallied to make the score close, but

lost the first game.

The Tars rallied late in the second game, and this time pulled out

the victory. Leading Mater Dei, 20-17, Newport Harbor reeled off five

of the last six points for the victory. Coco Yokoyama and Carey each

had three kills in the game.

In the third game, Jamie Heenan scored two kills on consecutive

points to bring the Sailors within 21-18. Then, Mater Dei’s Meghan

Meehan dominated the rest of the game. The senior middle blocker

scored three of the next four points for the Monarchs. Two points on

kills and the game winner on a block.

The Sailors were their own opponent in the fourth game with seven

unforced errors. Newport fell behind, 14-5, after losing 10 straight

points. Mater Dei pulled its starters off the floor, and allowed

their second string to finish the game winning.

Mater Dei, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division II-AA,

improved their record to 9-2.

Glenn was upbeat after the game. “We play the best teams, to make

ourselves better.”