Tars look good early

NEWPORT BEACH — To reach his Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball team before the season, Coach Dan Glenn turned to math.

“You’re not in algebra anymore,” he told his 17 players. “You’re in trigonometry, or you’re in calculus. We’ve got to move on to another level.”

In the first test of the season, the Sailors passed with flying colors. The only angles they measured were on their home court, where they easily figured out where the open spots were Tuesday night.

Newport Harbor found most of them, beating Laguna Beach, 25-16, 25-14, 21-25, 25-18, in a competition featuring two of Orange County’s top programs.

Glenn, in his 22nd year, looked like a proud match teacher seeing most of his entire honors class pass that first dreaded exam. Thirteen played against last year’s CIF Southern Section Division II-AA champ. All were solid.

“Great way to start off the season,” said Glenn, grinning.

Opposing Coach Lance Stewart left impressed and with his cap lower than where he placed it on his head before the match.

“That’s as good as I’ve seen one of his teams early in the year,” he said. “Dan’s teams are generally a lot better at the end of the year.”

Glenn is counting on that again.

The players are there to make a run in the Division I-AA playoffs and qualify for the state tournament for the first time since Newport Harbor did five years ago, with seniors in opposite hitter Megan Munce, outside hitter Jamie Heenan and setter Alesha Young, along with junior middle blocker Alex Penewell, returning as starters.

The strong performance against the top Division II-AA team early on demonstrates how far along Newport Harbor is, with Munce blasting 19 kills, Heenan adding 10 and Young finishing with 50 assists.

Somewhat surprised, Glenn for a moment began to question the start. This after watching his defense finish with 74 digs, an amount Glenn can’t remember the last time one of his teams recorded.

Then the defense put the clamps on star outside hitter Dana Hutchinson. The University of Arizona-bound senior even criticized her 13-kill effort, saying “I don’t think I did very well.”

Middle blockers Penewell and Katie Thompson, who finished with five and four blocks, respectively, played a role in slowing down last season’s section player of the year. When they weren’t stuffing Hutchinson, Young (15 digs), Cassidy Gayner (13) and Munce (12) were all over the court digging her shots.

Still, Glenn looked bewildered. That’s because the team dominated the first two games without the help of some of last year’s stars, Megan Toman (Brown) and Katie Wells (Fordham), who guided Harbor to a share of the Sunset League championship and the second round of the playoffs before graduating.

“I hope it doesn’t backfire on me [in that] we’re playing well now and not so good later,” said Glenn, whose team will play Friday in the competitive Dave Mohs Invitational, which features powerhouse programs in Santa Margarita, Santa Barbara, Upland, Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. “I’ve done some things differently in practice. Just more team ... drills. I usually in the beginning was just [focused] so much on individual [drills].

“For us, though, it’s not the first game of the year. This is our fourth year with [many of] those girls. I don’t treat it like it’s a first game of the year. This isn’t a new team. I’ve got a lot of experience out there.”

Glenn is hoping it adds up to a successful year.