Boys volleyball: Sailors breeze past Laguna Beach

Tony Altobelli

LAGUNA BEACH - Apparently Arizona and Florida are not the only two

states where “spring training” is taking place.

With every possible timeout used to its zenith, the Newport Harbor

High boys volleyball team is still trying to get on the same page,

chapter and book, despite Tuesday’s deceptive 15-6, 15-10, 15-9 nonleague

win over host Laguna Beach.

“We’ve been playing a lot of volleyball and talking a lot as a group,”

Newport Coach Dan Glenn said. “I’m still trying to teach some of the guys

to play under control and to have some flow to the match. It’s probably

not too fun with me yelling at them all the time, but I think we’ll get

to where we need to be.”

USC-bound Blake Tippett led the Sailors (6-3) with 14 kills, while

junior Morgan Craig added 10 kills and three aces. Senior Aaron Yarnal

(nine kills) and freshman Jamie Diefenbach (seven kills) also made

contributions to Newport’s offensive game plan.

“If we were playing football or basketball, I’d take my team any day

of the week,” Glenn said with a laugh. “But we’re playing volleyball, so

this period of the season is a major learning time for all of us.”

Newport jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in Game 1, thanks to some

strong serves by junior Greg Perrine and some Laguna Beach mistakes.

The Artists (1-3) cut the lead to one, before a 5-1 run extended

Newport’s advantage to 9-4.

After two Laguna Beach points, the Sailors ripped off the final six

points, including big blocks from Yarnal and junior Matt Casserly.

Newport came out fast in Game 2, taking a 7-3 lead before Laguna Beach

ripped off five straight points to take the lead. Austin Ybarra and three

of his team-high 14 kills during that stretch.

The game was tied, 10-10, before Newport again used a late-game run to

close it out. In that five-point stretch, Lloyd Wright had an ace serve

and a game-ending block.

Newport trailed in Game 3, 3-1, before taking control with a 9-2 run.

junior Erik Peterson came through with three kills in that spurt to help

Newport turn the momentum to its favor.

“Communication is what we need to work on the most,” Glenn said.

“Making sure guys are in the right spots, going after every ball, that

sort of thing. We’ve got a busy week ahead of us, so that will help us

out.”