Girls’ Volleyball: CdM owns Back Bay
Newport Harbor High Coach Dan Glenn has been involved in a lot of Battle of the Bay girls’ volleyball matches. Glenn, in his 31st year with the Sailors, said he couldn’t remember the last time both the Sailors and Corona del Mar went into the annual contest unranked.
That was the case Thursday night at CdM. One thing is for certain, CdM is closer than the Sailors are in cracking the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll.
The Sea Kings swept Newport Harbor, 25-20, 25-11, 25-14, claiming the Back Bay rivalry for the seventh year in a row.
The result put CdM at .500 overall, while the Sailors are off to their worst start under Glenn. Inside a packed gym, the Sea Kings (4-4) overmatched Newport Harbor (3-13).
Steve Astor, CdM’s coach, has seen his Sea Kings sweep the Battle of the Bay twice in his four years at the helm. Alexa Bonanno led the Sea Kings with nine kills on 10 attempts, with no errors, and Christina Davenport added eight kills.
Newport Harbor hasn’t had it easy early on in the season, playing at the Ann Kang Invitational in Hawaii last month, losing to the likes of Santa Margarita and Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, ranked No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. When the Sailors returned home, they lost to Long Beach Poly, ranked No. 10.
At the Dave Mohs Memorial Championships last week, Newport Harbor lost to Beckman and Sage Hill, programs in Division 2 and Division 3. The Sailors wound up 2-3 in the tournament, the same record as CdM.
“It’s kind of nice to have easy motivation after a tournament like that,” said CdM Coach Steve Astor, whose team bounced back after setbacks to El Dorado, No. 5 in Division 2, Long Beach Poly and Temecula Chaparral, from Division 1, at Dave Mohs.
The Sea Kings haven’t been at full strength early on. Kendall Kipp was with the U.S. youth national team at the NORCECA Under-18 Continental Championships in Puerto Rico. She returned to CdM the day before Dave Mohs, and Astor had four players miss action on the second day at Dave Mohs because they took the ACT.
With everyone back, CdM sure had to overcome a slow start in the city championship. The Sailors jumped ahead, 6-1, behind strong serving by Kendall Blanchfield, who had a service ace, and the play of Vivian Donovan.
Davenport and Bonanno brought CdM back. The two combined for seven kills and cut the deficit to 18-16. Then CdM’s Blair Hodges blocked two consecutive shots, evening the set at 18-18.
Glenn asked for a timeout. When play resumed, Sophie Ganion recorded an ace to give CdM its first lead since it scored the match’s first point, which also came on an ace.
The aces went to the Sea Kings, who finished with 11. Their fourth and fifth aces, both by Ashley Humphreys, put the Sea Kings at set point. Humphrey totaled seven kills.
Davenport and Hodges put the Sailors away. Davenport produced her sixth kill and Hodges her first.
Game 2 mostly featured CdM, which took a 7-2 lead. The advantage increased to 15-3, and the Sea Kings ran away with the set, and eventually the contest.
Both schools return to action on Tuesday, CdM travels to Trabuco Hills and Newport Harbor is at Laguna Beach, before opening play in their respective leagues. The Sea Kings have gone undefeated in the Pacific Coast League the past seven years, while Newport Harbor is in the always-tough Sunset League.
With its record way below .500, Newport Harbor has to finish in the top three in its league, or it will miss the playoffs for the second time in as many years. The only other time the Sailors failed to qualify for the postseason in consecutive seasons was in 1972-73.
“It’s early in the year still,” said Glenn, whose team last year placed fourth in league and came up short of advancing to the playoffs, a first for the program since 1981. “If you win [the Battle of the Bay], you can’t get too fired up, and if you lose, you can’t get too crushed, because there’s a lot of volleyball left, but it’s a city championship [match], so I’m not going to downplay it at all.”
