Griffins upend Sailors

LOS ALAMITOS — Barring something unforeseen, the Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball team’s quest for “no co” this season is a no go.

The Sailors had hoped to claim the outright Sunset League title, which would have ended a streak of seven straight seasons in which Los Alamitos had owned or shared the crown.

But though there are two league matches remaining, Coach Dan Glenn’s Tars (20-4, 7-1 in league), ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division I-AA, will likely have to settle for a co-championship, after falling to the host Griffins, 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-9, Thursday night.

Should the Sailors and Griffins (24-7, 7-1), ranked No. 5 in Division I-AA and the reigning outright league champions, both win their final two league matches next week, they would share the title for the second time in three seasons.

But, if they both finish 9-1 in league, the Sailors would be the league’s No. 1 representative in the section playoffs, because of their four-game triumph over Los Alamitos Oct. 13. The first tiebreaker used by the league is head-to-head competition. And Newport has won five of the nine games

Newport Harbor secured that potential tiebreaker advantage by winning Game 3 Thursday. But that was, as it turned out, the last of the good news for the Sailors.

“Kind of one of our things going in was ‘no co,’ ” Glenn said. “But we still have Marina [Tuesday] and Edison [Thursday], two real good teams next week, so I told the kids we’ve got to take care of business on our end.

“I’ve been saying ‘no co’ for a while.”

The Griffins and star Jane Croson, a 6-foot junior, had something to say about that as well. Croson missed the first Newport Harbor match with a strained abdominal muscle. But she was a big part of the Griffins’ attack Thursday.

“Having Jane back changes a lot for us,” said Los Alamitos Coach Dave Huber, who also noted that his team’s ability to rally for five-game wins this season also helped them to remain poised when the Sailors won the second and third sets.

“It’s just confidence,” Huber said. “Unfortunately, we’ve been down a lot of times this year and had to come back. You don’t want to be down against a team like Newport, but I think the girls were confident that this time around they could make the adjustments necessary to win.”

USC-bound senior Kirby Burnham paced the Sailors with 15 kills and added seven digs, while senior middle blocker Katey Thompson had 12 kills and five blocks.

Cinnamon Sary, a sophomore who continues to fill in for injured senior setter Mackenzi Campbell, had 40 assists and senior libero Kelly Heenan had 20 digs for the Tars.

“We played well tonight, we just didn’t execute,” Glenn said. “And that’s what I told [the players] at the end of the fourth and fifth games. You’ve got to go out and beat a team like that and we just didn’t do that.”

Still Glenn, whose team opens play today in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, is performing at a high level without two starters.

“I’m just really proud of the girls with all the injuries we’ve had,” said Glenn, who learned Thursday that 5-11 sophomore middle blocker Claire Castillo, a starter all season, is lost for the season with a torn ACL sustained last week. “Claire going down, and Mackenzi’s been down, and all the people being sick.

“With all the kids being hurt, we’re still figuring some stuff out right now with our lineup. And normally at this time of year, you wouldn’t be doing that.”

“We won the tiebreaker,” Glenn said. “That might mean a bye in the first round of the playoffs, which would be huge.”