Sailors can brag all they want

CORONA DEL MAR — Weird was what the two coaches said best described the finish of the girls’ volleyball match between Newport Harbor High and Corona del Mar Friday.

For Sea Kings’ Coach Bill Christiansen and Sailors’ Coach Dan Glenn it was weird that their teams could get beaten so soundly.

Amid the weirdness arose a startling comeback. In the third game, with the match tied 1-1, Newport Harbor was getting throttled. The No. 7 team in CIF Southern Section Division I-AA trailed 23-11 in its final regular season match.

“It was a weird one,” Glenn said.

What transpired next would have Christiansen scratching his head, the Sailors celebrating and the Sea Kings wiping away tears on what was their Senior Night as Newport Harbor stormed back to defeat Corona del Mar, No. 1 in Division II-AA, 19-25, 25-19, 26-24, 25-7.

The rally started when junior Katie Regan stepped up to serve for Newport Harbor (22-5).

“In a situation like that you need a server that doesn’t make errors,” Glenn said.

Regan is one of those servers for the Sailors, she led a 10-0 run with her serve against Marina on Tuesday. And on Friday she helped to do the same with her serve. The Sea Kings sided out to stop the run and make it 24-20, but the Sailors responded with six straight points to take the game.

Over the last game and a half, Newport Harbor outscored Corona del Mar, 40-8.

“It’s very baffling that either team can beat the other that bad,” Christiansen said. “This was a horrible loss.”

As the top ranked team, Corona del Mar (20-6) has already secured a top seed. Senior outside hitter Juliane Piggott tried to put the loss into context.

“It’s tough because it’s our senior year, but hey it’s the Battle of the Bay,” said Piggott, who had team-high 15 kills and two blocks in her second match since missing two weeks with a knee injury. “We’re going to come back on Monday and practice hard and kill everybody in CIF. We needed this loss to show us how hard we need to work.”

It wasn’t as much effort as it was calmness which the Sailors attributed the comeback to. To fall down 23-11 the Sailors made 10 hitting errors to five kills.

“It was not one of our best games,” said Sailors’ junior setter Alesha Young, who had 45 assists, five digs and four blocks. “We just started focusing on having a good attitude. I wasn’t nervous. I knew we could win, but I’m sure everybody was looking to the next game.”

The Sailors would not make an error the rest of the way while the Sea Kings would give away six points.

“I knew if we got out of our slump we could to it,” Sailors’ junior defensive specialist Cassidy Gayner said.

The winning point was pure effort as Alex Penewell and Megan Toman, who had a team-high 20 kills, each made diving one-armed digs which Megan Munce finished off by blasting a kill.

“We were trying a new thing to stay calm and just dig a lot of balls and don’t make errors,” said Munce, who had eight kills, eight digs and five blocks.

The momentum carried over into the fourth game as the Sailors won easily, Regan, who had 10 digs and 31 service attempts, served Newport Harbor to a 10-0 run.

“That was really exciting,” Munce said. “It definitely boosted our confidence. In the fourth game, we were not slowing down, we couldn’t let up.”

The Sailors are no strangers to the intensity of important matches. On Thursday, Newport Harbor pulled out a five-game victory over defending Division I state champion Los Alamitos to claim a share of the Sunset League title.

“That was huge for us,” Munce said. “After it was over we were all crying with excitement.”

Friday was the Sailors’ seventh match in a week, with the team going 6-1 in the stretch.

“We’re exhausted,” Gayner said. “We’re ready to go home and go to sleep.”

The Sailors will not have to worry about another match until the first round of the playoffs. Since Los Alamitos won the season series in games, 5-3, the Griffins get the league’s top seed while Newport Harbor is No. 2, something that has Glenn planning for tough competition early on.

“It’s a new season,” Glenn said. “As No. 2 we could be on the road against a tough opponent. We have to be focused.”

Katie Wells added 12 kills for Newport Harbor.

For the Sea Kings their playoff path will not be as rigorous, with No. 2 Laguna Beach automatically on the other side of the bracket because they share the same league. Still, Monday will be an intense practice.

“I’m sure it’s going to motivate the girls to finish games,” Christiansen said.

Senior Kelly Christian added 14 kills, nine assists, eight digs and three aces for the Sea Kings. Jamie Lawson had 15 assists, Ashley Pries added 12 digs and Kasey Kipp contributed eight kills and two blocks for CdM.