Laguna steps up with big sweep

A road test awaited the Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball team Wednesday, and the Breakers responded with a big win.

Laguna went to Edison to face the Chargers in a nonleague contest, and returned with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 sweep. The win put the Breakers, the No. 3 team in CIF Southern Section Division 2, at 5-3.

Edison, a Division 1 team coming off a fourth-place finish (Division 1) at the Orange County Championships which wrapped Monday, fell to 4-9.

The all-time series between the schools is now knotted at 9-9.

Junior opposite Jack Burgi had a team-high 16 kills and senior middle blocker Noah Blanton 12 kills, senior setter JP Wollam had 17 digs, and senior setter Cameron DePfyffer had 23 assists.

“This was a very good team win tonight,” Laguna Coach Darren Utterback said. “The boys are continuing to improve in some key spots.”

Defending Orange Coast League champion Laguna took its first step toward keeping its title Tuesday by sweeping host Godinez by 25-22, 25-11, 25-18 scores. Blanton finished with 13 kills, senior outside hitter Lucas Capobianco had 14 digs, Wollam 12 digs, and senior Alec Wulff had 30 assists.

“Godinez is a scrappy team that plays with a tremendous amount of pride and effort,” Utterback said. “Alec Wulff did a great job for us in his setting debut.”

The Breakers visited Saddleback Thursday but the score from the OCL match wasn’t available at press time.

Laguna is back in action next Tuesday, hosting Estancia in a 5:30 p.m. league match.

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Track & Field

Dana Hills made it a clean sweep Saturday at the 45th edition of the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational, as the Dolphins won all four divisions (boys’ and girls’ varsity, boys’ and girls frosh/soph) at the day-long event.

Laguna placed second in the varsity girls’ division, 10th in varsity boys, seventh in frosh/soph girls, and sixth in frosh/soph boys.

The Breakers are back on the track next Thursday, hosting Calvary Chapel and Estancia in an Orange Coast League tri-meet.

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Boys’ Golf

The Breakers previously fell to Calvary Chapel and Sage Hill.

Calvary Chapel took a 204-218 league match from Laguna at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley Monday. John Grayden shot a 41 (par 32) to lead the Breakers.

“It’s challenging to beat a team on their home golf course,” Laguna Coach Scott Finn said. “We are going to have to play better in order to compete for a league championship.”

Laguna also dropped a 204-230 nonleague match March 20 to Sage Hill at Strawberry Farms Golf Course (par 36) in Irvine. Tyler Metez shot at 44 to pace the Breakers.

The Breakers play two road league matches next week, starting with a 2:30 p.m. start Monday against Costa Mesa at Mesa Linda Golf Course at Costa Mesa Country Club. They’ll again go to Mile Square Park Wednesday for a 3 p.m. rematch with Calvary Chapel.

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Boys’ Tennis

The Breakers stepped away from league play Tuesday to take on Huntington Beach, and dropped a 12-6 nonleague match to the host Oilers.

Laguna’s top singles player, Ryan Gee, won two matches, suffering only a close, 6-4 set loss.

The loss put Laguna at 3-5 overall.

“We played well against a tough Division 1 team,” Laguna Coach Don Davis said.

The Breakers took their Orange Coast League record to 2-0 March 20 by defeating visiting Estancia, 12-6. Gee swept both his singles (he was subbed out for the third round), and the Breakers’ doubles teams of Alex Duong/Zack Washer, and Tim Nguyen/Ethan Gee, won by sweep. Jeff Spitz also swept in two doubles sets before being subbed out for the third round of doubles.

“The boys came ready to play our league rival,” Davis said.

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Swimming

The Breakers boys’ and girls’ teams both went to 2-0 in Orange Coast League competition Wednesday by defeating visiting Costa Mesa. The boys’ team won, 129-41 over the Mustangs, and the girls took a 136-32 victory.

Both the boys’ and girls’ 400 free relay teams won their events with a CIF automatic qualifying time. The boys’ team of Max Morgan, Cade Baldridge, Cameron Karkoska and Erik Juliusson, won the race in 3 minutes 25.69 seconds. The girls’ team of Lila Vera, Aria Fischer, Bella Baldridge and Cara Borkovec won with a time of 3:53.64

Other key races where Breakers set CIF qualifying times included Karkoska in the 500 free (5:04.42), and Juliusson in the 100 butterfly (54.27).

Laguna plays host to Estancia in a 3:15 p.m. OCL meet Wednesday.

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Boys’ Basketball

Laguna Beach senior Noah Blanton has been named to the 2014 All-CIF Southern Section Boys’ Division 4 Basketball Team. Blanton is one of 10 players to make the team, which is headed by division MVP Johnnie Vassar of division champion JSerra, and the division’s Coach of the Year, Joedy Gardner, also of JSerra.

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Girls’ Water Polo

Laguna Beach junior Makenzie Fischer, a driving force for the Breakers in their 30-1 season that ended with a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship, has been named MVP of the 2014 All-CIF Southern Section Division 1 Girls’ Water Polo Team. The 13-member team includes Laguna senior Cara Borkovec, freshman Aria Fischer and freshman Bella Baldridge, and is headed by Coach of the Year, Laguna’s Ethan Damato.

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CIF Weekly Rankings

Boys’ Volleyball: Laguna Beach (No. 3, Division 2).