Volleyball team spikes Sailors

After coming out on the short-end of three grueling road matches, the Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball team opened up its home slate Wednesday in grand style by defeating Newport Harbor, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, in nonleague play.

Coach Lance Stewart credits the first win of the season to his team’s perseverance.

“Our guys have stayed at the task, haven’t gotten down on themselves and have continued to improve each time out,” he said. “We served the ball more consistently, received serves a little more consistently, we blocked smarter and got in the right spots.

“One thing that impresses me about this team is that it is playing incredible defense.”

In the win over No. 10 Newport (Division I), the sixth-ranked Breakers (Division II) recorded 39 digs. In their season opener the previous week against Edison, Stewart said they had 19 digs.

“We are doing a great job and I’m happy with our progress,” Stewart said. “Our coaches, Steve (Astor) and Zack (Miller) are doing a great job with this team.”

Blair Bigelow had 17 kills, Cooper Gwaltney nine and Shawn Merz eight, and Clay Knapp had 44 assists for Laguna.

The Breakers leave today for San Diego where they will compete at The Best of the West Tournament, hosted by Poway High.

The 32-team tournament features some of the top boys’ volleyball programs in the state. Laguna, which is one of 11 county schools entered in the event, is seeded third in its pool (the 32 teams are broken down into four per eight pools).

Laguna opens the tournament at 3 p.m. today against Santa Barbara. The Breakers turn around to again face Newport Harbor at 6 p.m. then come back at 7 p.m. to conclude the first day with a match against Thousand Oaks.

The tournament concludes Saturday.

The Breakers have had great preparation for the Best of the West Tournament. I addition to Wednesday’s win over Newport Harbor, they began the season with road matches at Edison, Huntington Beach and Harvard/Westlake, all in a three-day period, and played all three to the hilt in three, five-game losses.

Edison is ranked fourth and Harvard/Westlake just missed cracking the top 10 in the Division I poll.

Edison also is competing today at the highly-competitive Best of the West Tournament.

It’s Laguna’s first appearance in the tournament.

“We don’t like to shy away from playing the best,” Stewart said. “All the top teams in (CIF) Division I and Division II will be there. It’s going to be nasty but a great challenge for our guys.”