Newport swept in Sea View showdown

Chris Yemma

Newport Harbor High girls volleyball coach Dan Glenn has been saying

all year that his team consistently has too many unforced errors.

But despite the errors, the Sailors are usually able to pull out

victories, riding on the shoulders of senior captain Kiley Hall and

sophomore Coco Yokoyama.

Tuesday night was different, as the mishaps crept up and sank the

Sailors in their 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 loss to host Woodbridge in a Sea

View League match.

“They did a better job of not beating themselves,” Glenn said. “I

don’t want to take away from their victory, but we can’t make so many

unforced errors.”

The errors kept sneaking up just when the Sailors (7-7, 4-1 in

league) were getting into their rhythm, and ended up being the

eventual cause of the team’s first league loss.

Last week, after Newport swept Laguna Hills, Glenn said whoever

wins Tuesday’s match between his team and the Warriors (15-4, 5-0)

will have an inside track on the Sea View League title.

In a match where it looked like anything could change at any

second, Woodbridge took the first step in the right direction for

that league title, but the team still has to deal with the pesky

Sailors again on Nov. 4 -- this time at Newport Harbor.

Off to a slow start in the first game and down, 6-1, two aces were dealt up by 6-foot junior Bryana Carey and the Sailors rallied to tie

the score at 10 apiece. A few points later and Yokoyama slammed the

ball over the net to put Newport up, 16-15.

The lead changed hands five times from point 10 to the end of the

first game. But the misfires for the Sailors started when they were

up, 22-21, after another Yokoyama kill. And just a couple of errors

later, they were down, 1-0, in the match.

The second game brought the same sort of luck for the Sailors --

rallying late to come close, but eventually shooting themselves in

the foot -- and the last game, Newport was just outplayed.

“We had the momentum the whole time,” Woodbridge coach Donnie

Rafter said. “We didn’t get in too many slumps and we minimized their

runs.”

The momentum for the Warriors was aided by the ear-piercing

screams from the crowd every time Woodbridge scored a point.

And the blocking game of 5-foot-10 Stephanie Trinen, 6-foot Taryn

Tarnutzer, Carey and 6-1 Jessica Robson couldn’t stuff Woodbridge’s

hitters as much as they have been earlier this season.

Glenn said he had hoped his seniors would step up, like they

usually do in every match. Hall led the team with 10 kills and senior

Carey had two aces, but the other seniors were shut down.

Yokoyama had six kills, Robson had five and Hadley Burnham had

four, but Woodbridge’s senior outside hitter, Jordyn Druary, had a

match-high 13 kills.

After the first two games, Glenn said he switched his lineup and

told his team to focus more on not making mistakes. But the mistakes

kept coming and the Warriors kept capitalizing on them.

“We did some good things, though,” Glenn said. “And I don’t want

to blame this loss all on us. Woodbridge played great and they just

beat us.”