Boys’ Volleyball: Sailors top Edison in five to remain atop Sunset
Newport Harbor’s Spencer Lawrence (4), Landon Monroe, center, and Carlos Rivera (1) celebrate winning a point against Edison during a Sunset League match on Friday.
At the midway point of the Sunset League boys’ volleyball season, Newport Harbor High, not Huntington Beach, is still perfect.
Flawless and the Oilers have gone hand in hand the past four seasons. This year has turned out to be a different story in league and that is because of the Sailors.
The last time the Sailors closed out the first half of league 5-0 was five years ago, when they went on the finish as undefeated champions. Newport Harbor is halfway there again.
The Sailors avoided a slip up at home on Friday, staying all alone atop the league with a 25-17, 20-25, 23-25, 25-22, 16-14 thrilling win.
--------------
FOR THE RECORD
April 18, 11:25 a.m.: In an earlier version of this post, a photo caption misidentified Newport Harbor High player Landon Monroe.
--------------
Edison tried to force a three-way tie in league with the Sailors and Oilers, until the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 1 stopped the No. 9 Chargers. Newport Harbor took Games 4 and 5, with the likes of Cole Pender, who led the team with 20 kills, Landon Monroe, Spencer Lawrence, Ethan Talley and Dayne Chalmers coming through with kills or blocks. Setter Carlos Rivera kept spreading the ball around.
“[The win] keeps everybody [at a] distance a little bit,” said Newport Harbor Coach Rocky Ciarelli, whose team is one match ahead of the Oilers (4-1 in league) and two ahead of the Chargers (3-2). “[The win] keeps us kind of in control of our destiny, so that’s big, but it’s going to be a tough second half.”
Things got testy for the Sailors (17-5 overall) late in Game 4.
They trailed, 22-20, and then Monroe, an opposite, cut the deficit in half with one of his 15 kills. Three straight errant shots by Edison gave the Sailors set point.
Then Chalmers, a freshman outside hitter, kept the match alive for Newport Harbor. He hammered a kill to force a decisive fifth set.
Game 5 didn’t start how Newport Harbor envisioned it, seeing Edison score the first three points. Ciarelli called a timeout and Newport Harbor regrouped. The hosts proceeded to go on a 6-2 run, fueled by an Edison service error and an Edison net violation.
Monroe recorded two kills and the Sailors went ahead, 6-5. Their lead increased to 10-7, as Monroe registered another kill and Talley, a middle blocker, stuffed two shots.
Edison responded by producing three straight points, off a Damian Coolidge kill, a Newport Harbor shot that went long and a Trent Williams kill. The teams were even at 10-10, the third time the score was even.
The final set featured three more ties. Each time it was Edison’s Garrett White or Williams tying it up with a kill, or a wide shot by the Sailors knotted the score.
For the Sailors, Chalmers and Pender broke ties with a kill, or a net violation by the Chargers put Newport Harbor up. That net violation put the Sailors at match point.
Down, 15-14, the Chargers made another mistake. They sent the ball out of play. For a second, Ciarelli thought the ball would drop in because Pender gave chase before he allowed it to fall.
“I don’t think it was that close, but, you know, when he’s running after it like that it scares you a little more than if he had stopped,” Ciarelli said. “I asked him afterward about it and he tells me, ‘Don’t worry, coach. I know where I’m at.’ I was like, ‘All right. That’s good to know.’”
Ciarelli smiled at the sophomore outside hitter. He didn’t have to question him further because the Sailors are in first.
Five matches in league remain for the Sailors, and the toughest will no doubt be Friday, when the No. 4 Oilers (20-1 overall) travel to Newport Harbor.
The Sailors ended the Oilers’ 121-match winning streak, the nation’s longest, last week in a four-set win at Huntington Beach. They became the first team to knock off Huntington Beach in three years.
Monroe said the next meeting is going to be for the league title.
“I think we need to keep the same energy as we did last time [we played the Oilers],” Monroe said. “They’re going to come out fired up because we [took down] their streak. They’re going to want to earn it back.”
Twitter: @ByDCP
