Sage aiming higher

NEWPORT COAST — For almost the entire season, save for a couple of matches against Brethren Christian High and St. Margaret’s, the Sage Hill School boys’ volleyball team has been operating in cruise control.

After gliding to a 25-17, 25-10, 25-10 win over Bellarmine-Jefferson of Burbank Tuesday night, the Lightning (20-9) were ready to kick things into high gear.

The No. 3-seeded Lightning, beneficiaries of a first-round bye, swept the Guards to advance to the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division V playoffs and surprised them doing it.

Sage Hill will play host to Chadwick, in the quarterfinals Friday at 7 p.m.

Bell-Jeff was expecting junior Bayle Smith’s tough hitting and powerful jump serving, but senior Carl Hillgren, whose presence had been spotty during the regular season, caught them unawares.

Hillgren, who had 10 kills, wasn’t on the video Bell-Jeff Coach Miguel Segura analyzed, and neither was junior middle Harlan Webster. Segura was on the lookout for Smith, sophomore Joey Booth, and junior Alex Lowe.

Smith led with 17 kills and five aces, including two aces back-to-back in Game 2. Booth had eight kills.

“Boy, they surprised us a little bit,” Segura said. “Our game plan wasn’t exactly up to par, but they’re a good team.”

Last season Segura led the Guards (17-7) to the CIF quarterfinals, where they lost to eventual champion Viewpoint. This year, Bell-Jeff finished second in the Santa Fe League to Salesian, the favorite to win the Division V title. Salesian was ranked No. 1 in the Division V coaches’ poll for the final six weeks of the regular season.

But Segura said he got a surprise from his own team as well.

“We didn’t come out ready to play at all, obviously,” Segura said. “It took us all the way to the third game where we finally relaxed a little bit and started playing with them. We didn’t pass. Our passing was horrible. They served it, and they went on runs of six or seven points in a row, on just a serve, and we couldn’t even get the ball back over to them ... I don’t even recognize this team. I think we could have given [Sage Hill] a much better game than what we did.”

The Lighting, who’ve spent the last six weeks ranked No. 3, behind Salesian and Viewpoint, are looking to make a return after they too, lost to Viewpoint in last season’s semifinals. The team went 30-1 in Academy League games to win the title, sweeping every opponent except Brethren Christian.

“We haven’t really had a problem all season,” Booth said. “Hopefully we can keep that up through the rest of the playoffs.”

While play between junior setter Michael Bear (40 assists) and Smith has been at a high, Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen wants more from the team’s blockers — Hillgren and Webster. Hillgren had one block.

“I thought Bayle ... just really stayed at a high level the whole match,” Thomassen said. “He and Michael just have really good chemistry and I thought they both played really smart, and they made the most of every contact. They really weren’t wasting any opportunities, which is really important for us.

“I thought our block could have been a lot better we’re going to play some better attacking teams and we’re going to have to get our hands over the net and get some stuff blocks.”

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.