Sailors granted top seed

The last time the Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball team received a No. 1 seed in the CIF Southern Section playoffs, the Sailors won the championship in 2002.

Coach Dan Glenn will gladly take another.

The Sailors earned the top seed in the Division I-AA playoffs and their reward is a first-round bye. Newport Harbor is one of two local teams qualifying for the postseason that don’t play in the first round.

Newport Harbor (25-6) helped itself by winning a share of the Sunset League championship.

The other team is Corona del Mar (22-5), which won the Pacific Coast League title and is the No. 2 seed in Division II-AA.

Sage Hill School (12-10) and Estancia (15-10) play first-round matches tonight at 7. The Lightning, the No. 4 seed in Division IV-AA, look like they will have the easier opening night.

The Lightning are the second-place team out of the Academy League and they play host to Jurupa Valley of Mira Loma (13-7), the No. 3 representative from the Sunkist League.

The Eagles, the third-place team from the Orange Coast League, are at El Toro (17-10) in Division I-A. Getting past the opening round for the fourth straight year will be difficult for Estancia.

Estancia is a small school compared to El Toro, which split the Sea View League title and received the league’s No. 2 entry.

Coach Jim Huffman said playing at home early on has helped the Eagles move on in the playoffs. Having to go on the road against the No. 7-ranked team in the final Division I-A poll creates challenges.

“We were able to pull off an upset against Huntington Beach in the first round last year,” Huffman said. “We caught Huntington Beach on the right night and if [the Chargers] are looking down the road, we might able to do it again.

“We need a team effort to do it.”

Estancia will try to shock a team from the Sea View League for the second straight year. The key is how successful the Eagles can be in digging the Chargers’ big hitters. Huffman believes he has someone who can handle El Toro’s heat in libero Amanda Watson.

Huffman said Watson has set a single-season school record for digs with 507. The senior surpassed her previous mark.

The Eagles’ big hitter is junior Lily McLendon, who is the second player during Huffman’s seven years at Estancia to record more than 300 kills in a season.

Senior outside hitter Lindsey Kish leads Sage Hill. The Lightning reached the quarterfinals of the playoffs last year, losing to eventual champion Calvary Murrieta.

“One of our goals is to get to the finals,” said Coach Dan Thomassen, who led Sage Hill to a section championship in 2005.

The goal is the same for Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor.

The Sea Kings reached the title match last year before losing to Redlands East Valley in three games. Most of CdM’s team is back, led by senior setter Madie Smith.

Redlands East Valley (30-3) is the top seed this year.

Coach Darryl Gan’s Sea Kings open in the second round at home Thursday against either Diamond Bar or Arcadia.

“We’re in the same scenario as CdM, in that before we get deep into the playoffs, we’ll be playing teams we really haven’t seen at all this year,” said Glenn, whose Sailors open second-round play Thursday against either West Torrance or Temecula Valley. “We have six seniors in Mackenzi Campbell, Maggie Magner, Jackie Graham, Katey Thompson, Kirby Burnham and Kelly Heenan who kind of understand the playoffs.

“This group has never made it to the state tournament, and in order to get to it, we have to make it to the [section] final.”