Sailors advance to regional final

NEWPORT BEACH — The student cheering section at Newport Harbor High taunted Haleigh Hampton every time she stepped to the service line Saturday night.

Hampton did her best to ignore the chants, which included “Shaq.” It’s expected when you’re 6-foot-6.

But Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn devised a much more effective plan to take away the Huntington Beach High middle blocker in the CIF State Division I Southern California Regional semifinal, which ended with the Sailors sweeping, 25-16, 25-19, 25-15.

“We didn’t need to shut her down completely,” Glenn said. “It was just that if we served the ball tough enough, they couldn’t get her the ball, and that was kind of our plan. It’s pretty hard to shut down 6-6.”

The Sailors (31-6) did serve tough and it’s pretty hard to stop them right now, too. The CIF Southern Section Division I-AA champions won their ninth straight match and advance to play at top-seeded Dos Pueblos in the CIF State Division I Southern California Regional final Tuesday night.

Dos Pueblos topped Clovis West in three games, 25-12, 25-19, 25-20, in another semifinal Saturday.

Newport Harbor certainly started out on fire Saturday. The first point was an ace from senior libero Kelly Heenan, who served five more and suddenly the hosts were up, 6-0.

Huntington Beach rallied, as the Oilers (19-13) had much of the postseason in posting upset wins over Marymount, Santa Barbara and La Costa Canyon. But after the Oilers pulled within 17-15, a kill by sophomore Alex Holbrook was followed by two straight service aces from senior Mackenzi Campbell, giving Newport Harbor some wiggle room.

Newport then took an 8-2 lead in Game 2 on another ace from senior middle blocker Katey Thompson, who finished with a match-high 14 kills. Senior Kirby Burnham had 12 kills, and junior Maddy Brown and Holbrook had eight kills each.

With such powerful weapons on Newport’s side, the runs come often. They did in Game 3, too, when an 8-6 lead suddenly became a 15-8 advantage.

“We’re pretty good when we have a lot of momentum and we keep going,” Burnham said. “When the other team has momentum and we have to side out, that’s one thing we’ve been working on. I think we’ve done a lot better job siding out quickly and not letting teams get lots of points.”

Sophomore setter Cinnamon Sary dished out 41 assists for the Tars, and Heenan had a match-high 15 digs.

Hampton led Huntington Beach with 12 kills and six blocks, but the Sailors were just too solid.

“[Huntington Beach] was a team that had a lot of momentum coming in, in the sense that I knew they weren’t going to panic They dig a ton of balls and let you make mistakes,” Glenn said. “Fortunately, tonight we didn’t make a lot of mistakes. That’s how you beat Huntington.”

Next for Newport Harbor comes Dos Pueblos, in the way of Newport Harbor attempting to make its first CIF state final since 1999. The Chargers topped the Sailors in a sweep on Oct. 31 at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

“When we played them last time, it was in a tournament and we were tired,” Burnham said. “I think we have to go in there and have confidence when we play them, but also have a lot of energy and play one of our best [matches] yet.”

Glenn agreed.

“We’re going to have to play our best match,” he said. “I think we still have our best match in us, and we’re going to need it.”