Breakers net county title

Although Laguna Beach High girls’ volleyball coach Lance Stewart felt his team didn’t play its best volleyball, the Breakers still had enough to rule the Dave Mohs Tournament.

Laguna won the Division I championship of the tournament — formerly called the Orange County Championships — at Edison High Monday by coming back from a game down to defeat Harvard/Westlake, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12, in the final.

It was the fourth tournament title for Laguna, the most by any school in the history of the girls’ event.

Laguna, ranked No. 1 in the current CIF-Southern Section Division II-AA girls’ volleyball poll, took care of rival Corona del Mar, 25-22, 25-19, in semifinal round play.

The Breakers had begun the tournament Friday with pool play. They swept San Clemente (25-16, 25-16), Downey (25-12, 25-14) and host Edison (25-17, 25-22) in pool play before moving on to championship bracket action.

Other tournament wins included a 25-13, 25-16 sweep of Ayala and a come-from-behind 19-25, 25-14, 15-8 victory over El Dorado.

“To win any kind of tournament, a team has to play consistent volleyball,” Stewart said. “When you’re tired, when you’re sore, you just have to keep playing hard. We weren’t playing our best, but we hung in there.”

In the title match win over Harvard/Westlake, the No. 4-ranked team in Division I-A, Dana Hutchinson had 17 kills and 10 digs, Zoe Garrett 12 kills, Tiffany Chen seven digs and Alex Palmer 27 set assists.

Stewart praised the play of setters Palmer and Mychaela Miller.

“Both served tremendously throughout the tournament,” he said. “They both did phenomenal jobs.”

At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Laguna faces another stiff round challenge when it plays at Mira Costa. The Mustangs are ranked No. 2 in Division I-AA.

“How you play in tournaments throughout the season counts down the road when it comes to seedings in CIF and State,” Stewart said. “If we keep playing every point hard, good things will happen.”

Boys’ Water Polo

Laguna opened its 2006 season with a pair of games that went to the wire.

In its season opener, the Breakers and Foothill were locked in a tense battle at Tustin High, but it was the host Knights who were able to gain control at the end of the match to produce a 9-7 victory.

On Monday, Laguna faced the same scenario as it traveled to Los Angeles to face host Loyola, which went ahead late in the match to score a 7-5 victory.

“Both were very, very tight games,” Laguna Coach Rick McKee said. “We very easily could be 2-0, instead of 0-2. Despite the losses, I’m thrilled with the way we’re playing.”

Peter Phelps scored three goals, Pierre Masson two and Cameron Brinkman and Nathan McConnell one each against Foothill, and Warren Murrell had 12 saves.

Against Loyola, Phelps and Brinkman each scored twice, Masson once and Murrell had seven saves.

Laguna competes today and Saturday at the 32-team South Coast Tournament hosted by Newport Harbor High and played at several county pool sites. The Breakers are grouped in pool play with Redlands, Servite and Villa Park, and will play early-round matches at Capistrano Valley High.

Laguna finished 17th at last year’s tournament.

Girls’ Tennis

Laguna and host Mater Dei played to a 9-9 tie Tuesday at Los Caballeros Racquet Club and after 18 tie-breakers, the Monarchs emerged with a 10-8 victory.

The match, which began at 3 p.m., ended at 7 p.m., Laguna interim coach Jonee Earl said.

Laguna’s No. 1 singles player, Lyndsay Kinstler, and its No. 1 doubles team of Lauren Thigpen and Heather Tran, earned sweeps. No. 2 singles Madeline Jaeger won two of three matches, and No. 3 singles McKenna Nokes picked up another point.

Kinstler is now 10-0 on the season.

“It just couldn’t have been a tighter match,” Earl said. “Everybody played real well. I think we surprised some people today.”

In previous action, Kinstler swept at No. 1 singles, and Thigpen and Tran did the same at No. 1 doubles, but Laguna dropped a 10-8 nonleague match to host Dana Hills.

“Our girls played very well,” Laguna Coach Aaron Talarico said of the Dana Hills match. “Lauren Thigpen and Heather Tran swept at No. 1 doubles against some very good Dana Hills doubles teams. I am very happy about that.”

Cross-Country

Boys

Taking the spotlight Saturday in a “seeded” race that had an 8:55 p.m. start, Laguna ran to an 11th-place finish at the Woodbridge Invitational.

The “seeded” race was made up of 19 of the top-caliber programs in all divisions throughout the state.

Jeremy Eaton led the charge for the Breakers with a personal-record time of 15:22, which earned him a 16th-place finish. Andrew Raub came up with a quick finish to place 26th in a time of 15:38.

“The race was incredibly fast and competitive,” Laguna Coach Dave Brobeck said. “The team finished in 11th place, and I was very happy with the result. We were the smallest school in a race with mostly top Division 1 schools.”

Laguna’s freshman team outran 18 other teams to win its division at the invitational. The Breakers won the race by a whopping 72 points. Seven Breakers broke 18 minutes on the 3-mile race including top freshman runner, Richard Mattingley, who won the race with a time of 16:23.

Brobeck called Mattingley’s performance “the fastest frosh time I have ever had at Woodbridge and the first Laguna runner that I know of ever, to win a race at the Woodbridge Invite.”

Girls

Several Laguna athletes turned in top performances at the Woodbridge Invitational.

Alex Crawley was solid in the girls’ sweepstake race and finished with a time of 18:07. In the girls’ varsity race, Melissa Lenker improved her previous-best time by 27 seconds with a time of 20:30; Heather Thomas dropped three minutes off her time at last year’s race and finished in 20:44; Zoe Heath ran the course in 21:15, a 41-second improvement; Cassidy Robinson ran a 21:17, a time that was 12 seconds under her previous personal best, and Ashley Eaton went 22:38, bettering her previous course time by 22 seconds.

Also in the varsity race, Kelly McCarter ran a 22:19 and Leila Pearson a 23:30.

CIF-Southern Section rankings:

Girls’ volleyball

Division II-AA: 1. Laguna Beach; 2. University; 3. St. Lucy’s; 4. Corona del Mar; 5. Norco; 6. South Hills; 7. Bishop Montgomery; 8. Ayala; 9. Oxnard; 10. Diamond Bar.

Girls’ cross-country

Division IV: 1. Maranatha 2. Marlborough; 3. Paraclete; 4. Morro Bay; 5. La Reina; 6. Laguna Beach; 7. Westridge; 8. Big Bear; 9. Lousiville; 10. Marymount.

Boys’ cross-country

Division IV: 1. Big Bear; 2. Laguna Beach; 3. Morro Bay; 4. Maranatha; 5. Oaks Christian; 6. Malibu.

Boys’ water polo

Division II: 1. Santa Barbara; 2. Servite; 3. Villa Park; 4. Riverside Poly; 5. Ventura; 6. Mission Viejo; 7. San Clemente; 8. Laguna Beach; 9. Santa Margarita; 10. Mater Dei.