HIGH SCHOOLS:

In one gym, Sage Hill School Athletic John Poffenberger had the space reserved for four teams.

“For different times of course,” said Poffenberger in his first year with the Lightning. “Three of those programs don’t usually practice in our gym.”

One of those is cross country. The boys and girls were forced into the Sage Hill gym last school week with the Orange County fires making the air unhealthy to conduct light practices outdoors.

The girls’ volleyball program already uses the facility, but it had to share it with cross country, football and water polo.

The rescheduling ran well until Poffenberger said the postponement of sporting events caused volleyball to look ahead. Not much time for practice before the regular season ends on Nov. 2. The Lighting have to play four Academy League matches this upcoming week after two were postponed last week.

“Maybe five if there’s a tiebreaker for second place in league,” said Poffenberger of Sage Hill, which is in second place at 4-2, barely ahead of Oxford Academy (4-3) and Brethren Christian (4-3). “Next week will definitely be interesting for volleyball.”

How the Lightning do during this arduous stretch in which they play at home, starting with Brethren Christian Monday, Oxford Academy Tuesday and Capistrano Valley Christian Wednesday before going to St. Margaret’s Thursday will affect their entry into the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs.

Thom Simmons, the section director of communications, said the postseason won’t be pushed back due to the postponement or cancellation of any of the fall sporting events. The volleyball playoffs for every division start Nov. 5 with wild-card matches and the following day the first-round action begins.

More matches than the usual two in a week is the same dilemma Corona del Mar, Costa Mesa, Estancia and Newport Harbor are each facing.

Newport Harbor and CdM both were ordered by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District to cancel their trips Friday to the prestigious Santa Barbara Tournament as the district canceled all sports-related activities until the new week.

This left CdM Coach Bill Christiansen frustrated, knowing his Sea Kings, ranked No. 2 in Division II-AA, would miss the two-day, 16-team tournament, where the air quality was fine with no fire danger. Christiansen said the Sea Kings were scheduled to compete in as many as five matches. The bright side is that CdM and Newport Harbor, both in situations to defend their respective league titles, won’t be worn out from playing so many matches before the playoffs.

Three Pacific Coast League matches await CdM (5-0 in league) before its Back Bay match on Nov. 2 at Newport Harbor, No. 3 in Division I-AA. The Sailors, who are 6-1 in the Sunset League, trail first-place Los Alamitos in league. Newport Harbor has three league matches left and the cross-town rivalry match.

The Sailors were the lone NMUSD volleyball program to play last school week. Coach Dan Glenn said Newport Harbor Athletic Director Eric Tweit checked to see if playing at Fountain Valley would be OK.

“I wasn’t my call, but they just redid their gymnasium and it has air conditioning,” said Glenn of Fountain Valley after Newport Harbor won, 25-13, 25-23, 25-20.

Estancia and Costa Mesa will each play three Orange Coast League matches this upcoming week.

CHANGING COURSE

Cross country runners saw their schedules change course.

Tweit said the Newport Harbor boys’ and girls’ Sunset League finals scheduled for Saturday will now be on Tuesday at Central Park in Huntington Beach at 1 p.m. The boys are ranked No. 2 and the girls No. 5 in Division II.

Poffenberger said Sage Hill’s Academy League finals were already scheduled for Tuesday before the season began. The location will change because he said the original site, Irvine Regional Park, is closed due to the nearby Santiago Fire. The boys and girls are each ranked No. 4 in Division V.

CdM will compete in the Pacific Coast League finals Thursday at 2 p.m. at Mason Park in Irvine. The girls are No. 1 in Division III and boys No. 9.

The dates and location for Estancia and Costa Mesa to compete in the Orange Coast League finals have not been released.

The section cross country playoffs start with the preliminaries on Nov. 10 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.