Sailors’ playoff hopes dwindle
LOS ALAMITOS — Newport Harbor High is on its way to making history in girls’ volleyball, albeit not the kind Coach Dan Glenn would prefer.
Glenn has been an institution at the school since 1986, yet his 30th season at the helm is looking like it will mark the first time he doesn’t take the Sailors to the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
The Sailors needed to win a key Sunset League match at Los Alamitos on Tuesday to aid their playoff hopes. It didn’t come close to happening.
The Griffins remained in sole possession of third place in league with a 25-15, 25-23, 25-16 sweep. With two league matches remaining, the Griffins are 5-3, two matches ahead of the fourth-place Sailors.
The top three teams in league earn automatic berths into the Division 1AA playoffs. For Newport Harbor to have a chance at qualifying for the postseason, it must prevail in its final two contests and Los Alamitos has to lose out.
The scenario is highly unlikely as Los Alamitos plays host to winless Marina in one of those contests. The first is Thursday at undefeated Huntington Beach.
But if the scenario plays out, Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos would play a playoff match to determine third place. The Sailors still would have to beat the Griffins, something they haven’t done this year, to advance to the postseason.
The odds are stacked against Newport Harbor (9-16, 3-5 in league).
Glenn knows Los Alamitos is in the driver seat after having topped Newport Harbor for the second time. He said Sailors had to get this one.
“For us, it’s not going to be talking about a lot of those scenarios,” said Glenn, whose team plays host to Marina in league on Thursday at 5:45 p.m., before it travels Friday morning to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. “It’s going to be to go out and control the one thing that we can control and that’s ourselves. Then we’ll see what happens.”
What took place in the second match between the Sailors and Griffins was nothing like their meeting on Oct. 8 at Newport Harbor. This one didn’t go the distance.
Game 1 played out even through the first 20 points, but the Sailors had to come back three times to tie the Griffins. Newport Harbor couldn’t catch Los Alamitos after Hannah Wehring broke a 10-10 with a kill.
The Griffins scored seven straight points.
After the Sailors scored five of the first six points in Game 2 behind kills by Jaclyn Brown (eight kills, five digs) and Amanda Walker (five kills), an ace by Alexia Aguirre (six digs), and a block by Brown, Los Alamitos evened things up at 11-11. The Griffins never led in the second set until they rallied the team from a 15-11 deficit.
“I thought we made a couple of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made [in Game 2], as far as positioning,” Glenn said. “[When we were up, 15-11], that’s when you got to, you know, try and kind of extend that lead. We were unable to do that. That was probably the most disappointing part of the match.”
Glenn said the most disappointing part of the season would be for the storied Sailors, who have made 14 section final appearances, winning eight of them, to miss the playoffs for the first time since 1981.
Newport Harbor has failed to reach the playoffs only three times. The other two times were in 1972 and ‘73, the first two years of the CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball playoffs.
“I’m disappointed for the kids, just because I think we’re pretty good,” Glenn said. “Our record doesn’t show it, but I think I have a really good group of seniors. Me personally, it’s about coming out and competing every day and doing the best you can. I think we haven’t done it as well as I would like, and that’s kind of put us in this position.”
Twitter: @ByDCP
