Locals conjure past

With both the Corona del Mar High and Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball teams in the state playoffs after their section finals, the intensity level is even higher.

Although it is quite often a difficult task to recreate the enthusiasm after a CIF final, it is another step toward maximizing your season. Most teams start with two parts, preseason and league season. A third part is the CIF playoffs, which require increased intensity. Now, with success at the section level, teams in the state tournament have a chance to be the state high school champion. The state tournament division is based on school enrollment only.

On Tuesday, Newport Harbor, in the Division I Southern California Regional, swept Granada Hills, who was the Los Angeles City Champion, while CdM, in Division II, traveled to San Diego county to beat Ramona, who won a San Diego section title.

The Back Bay schools’ wins put both teams in Saturday’s Southern California Regional semifinals. The regional final is Tuesday and the state final between the winning teams in the south and the north is Dec. 5 at UC Irvine’s Bren Event Center.

Newport’s at home Saturday against Huntington Beach, with the match starting at 7. The Sea Kings travel to Wildomar to play at Elsinore.

The first local team to play in the state tournament was the 1984 Corona del Mar team. After losing the CIF final to Gahr, the Sea Kings went on the road. The first game was at Roosevelt High in East Los Angeles. Roosevelt had won the city championship. The school was a tough place to play as the bus was escorted to the gym by armed security guards. The gates to the school locked behind the bus. There were only a few parents in the stands. CdM won in three and got out of town as quickly as possible. An aside, the infamous Night Stalker was picked up a month later a few blocks from the school. Quite an adventure for our CdM girls.

Next stop was a trip to St Joseph’s (winner of another CIF section), who played its games in the school cafeteria. Before a loud crowd and with balls bouncing off of the chandeliers, CdM pulled out a five-game triumph.

Davis, who was the best in the north, was the semifinal opponent and Corona took care of business to setup a rematch with Gahr. This time, CdM won in four in an upset victory. CdM’s Brooke Herrington was named MVP, but it was a total team effort. Christy Linden who was 5-foot-4, literally served Gahr off of the court.

In 1987, Newport and Corona del Mar played a five-game thriller in the CIF final, while a very talented Irvine team won in a different division. Newport played at home for three matches, while CdM went on the road and had to play at Irvine. Irvine, led by Cari Delson and Bev Oden (later star players at Pepperdine and Stanford, respectfully), won and went on to play Newport for the state championship.

Newport, led by Jenny Evans (future UCLA and USA National team phenom) had not lost a match all year but fell to Irvine in a four-game battle at Cal State Fullerton.

Corona del Mar returned to the state playoffs in 1989 after losing to Mira Costa in the CIF final. Corona del Mar had played the previous Tuesday at Santa Barbara and had won in a marathon five-game match. The trip to Santa Barbara coupled with the excitement of playing in the CIF final took a toll. The state run started with a victory in Bakersfield followed by a win over Torrey Pines in San Diego and finished with a trip to San Jose for the semifinals. Corona with only two starting seniors, Danielle Everett and Krista Hartling (who would play at Stanford and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo), were frazzled and lost in five tough games in the semifinals. Setter Prentice Perkins (Long Beach State), middle blocker Lara Carlson (USC) and Tracy Schriber (UCLA) were all junior starters.

With so many experienced players returning and a win in the CIF final which assured home court throughout the state tournament, CdM won the state championship with a four-game thriller over St Francis from Mountain View. Tracy Schriber, who went on to play at Golden West College and UCLA, had actually been cut from her seventh-grade team. Instead of hanging it up, she worked hard and was eventually named the state’s Player of the Year during her senior season.

Perseverance!

CdM, coached by Lance Stewart, won back-to-back state championships in 1992 and 1993. The ’92 team featured outside hitter Lori Newcomber (Alabama and Cal) and middle blocker Allison Englebrecht (Portland).

The ’93 team featured setters Kim Coleman (UCLA) and Kristen Campbell (Duke), Kristen’s sister, Kelly Campbell, who played middle blocker and became an All-American setter at Colorado, Kathryn Rice (Brown) and Caitlin Pickart (Stanford). Corona del Mar had won three of the last four Division I state championships, quite a feat.

Interestingly, a very talented Newport Harbor team featuring sophomores Misty May (Long Beach State) and Melissa Schutz (Colorado) as well as freshman Jeannette Hecker (LMU) played in the 1992 Division III bracket, which they won.

Moving up to Division I in ’93, Newport played Corona del Mar in the state final, after losing in the CIF section final. With Misty, Melissa and Sara Fairborn (Georgetown) leading the way, Newport battled to five games but lost.

In 1994, Dan Glenn’s Newport team was one of the best. With Misty, Sara, Melissa, and Laura Osborne all very experienced seniors coupled with junior Jeannette Hecker’s setting, the Sailors swept the finals. The seniors left Newport with three state final appearances and two state titles. Impressive.

Newport returned to the state finals in 1998 and 1999 led by April Ross (USC), Jennifer Carey (Hawaii), Marissa Cothran (currently coaching at Vanguard), Krista Dill (Duke), Heather Cullen (UCLA) and Brenda Waterman (UC Irvine). These Sailors dominated with a sweep in both finals over Lincoln from Stockton. These teams were very talented and experienced.

The experience of competing in the state tournament is outstanding. Playing in this fourth part of the season can bring great memories and successes which only make a season more special . Newport and Corona del Mar are on that quest. Good luck to both.