High School Roundup: Inconsistency plagues Breakers
It’s the first full week of the season but Laguna Beach High girls’ volleyball Coach Raul Papaleo already sees areas in which his team must show improvement.
Laguna opened the season Sept. 4 at Santa Margarita and lost in three sets to the Eagles, 25-21, 25-23, 26-24.
On Tuesday at Corona del Mar, the Breakers battled the host Sea Kings tough, but ended up losing in four sets to the seventh-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 1AA, 23-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-15.
An 0-2 start wasn’t what Papaleo had envisioned.
“We’re a talented team but we’ve just been inconsistent in these first two matches,” he said. “We played well at times against CdM, and we were right there with them in every set, but then gave away five or six points in a row, and the game got away from us.
“Santa Margarita was a reflection of the CdM match. We led in the second game (22-18), but probably gave them four or five straight points, and we ended up losing the set and fell behind, 2-0. We were up, 24-23, in the third game but couldn’t close it out.”
Senior outside hitter Sabrina Stillwell led Laguna with 16 kills and 14 digs against Santa Margarita. Senior libero Francie Holte had 15 digs and junior Jamie Robbins had 15 assists.
Laguna played its home opener Thursday against JSerra. The score wasn’t available at press time.
The Breakers will compete this weekend at the Dave Mohs Tournament. The annual event, hosted by Edison High, starts with pool play Friday, continues Saturday and concludes with championship game action Monday in Division 1 and Division 2.
Laguna is competing for the Division 1 title.
“It’s a good challenge for our team,” Papaleo said of the tournament. “We’re going to see a lot of good teams and it’s a good opportunity for us to improve. If we want to be successful, we definitely have to minimalize our unforced errors and serve better. Those are two big keys for us.”
Division 1 teams: Aliso Niguel; Canyon/Anaheim; Carlsbad; Corona Centennial; Chaparral; Corona del Mar; Dana Hills; Dos Pueblos; Edison; El Dorado; Huntington Beach; JSerra; Laguna Beach; Lakewood; Long Beach Poly; Long Beach Wilson; Los Alamitos; ML King; Mater Dei; Murietta Valley; Newport Harbor; Northwood; Orange Lutheran; Palos Verdes; Rancho Cucamonga; Sage Hill; San Clemente; San Juan Hills; Santa Barbara; Santa Margarita; Tesoro; Villa Park.
Division 2 teams: Ayala; Bakersfield; Beckman; Bonita; Brea Olinda; Buena Park; Carson; Costa Mesa; Crean Lutheran; El Modena; Esperanza; Fountain Valley; Fullerton; Gahr; La Habra; Laguna Hills; Marina; Mission Viejo; Norco; Rosary; Santiago; Segerstrom; Sonora; St. Margaret’s; Stockdale; Strathcona; Troy; University; Whittier Christian; Woodbridge; Yorba Linda; Yucaipa.
Boys’ Water Polo
Laguna’s top-ranked boys’ water polo team started its season Tuesday in San Diego and returned with an 11-7 victory over Cathedral Catholic.
Senior attacker Cade Baldridge led the scoring with five goals. Senior attacker Aki Andersen and junior utility Jakob Colladay both scored twice and senior goalie Garret Hartley finished with seven saves.
The Breakers led, 5-4 at the half and outscored the Dons by three goals in the second half.
“It was a solid win over a quality program,” Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said. “Cathedral is a well-coached team and any time you get a win against them, that’s a good win.
“With that said, we saw many areas that we need to improve on before the (Santa Barbara) tournament this weekend. We will break down the film, build on the positives and work hard to fix the little breakdowns on both ends.”
Laguna and Cathedral Catholic could meet again Friday. Both teams are competing at the Santa Barbara Tournament.
The annual event started Thursday and runs through Saturday. Games will be played at Santa Barbara, Dos Pueblos and San Marcos highs.
The Breakers, the No. 1-seed in Pool C, plays their opening pool game at 2 p.m. Friday at Santa Barbara High. They’ll face the winner of the Thursday game between Cathedral Catholic and Lafayette (CA.) Acalanes.
The tournament includes four teams that are ranked No. 1 in their respective CIFSS polls: Laguna, Harvard-Westlake (Division 1), Righetti (Division 4), and Claremont (Division 5).
“This tournament is stacked from top to bottom,” Damato said. “I’m anticipating four tough games no matter where we end up. This will be a great test for our guys and opportunity to reach one of our early season goals.”
Santa Barbara Tournament
Pool A: Harvard-Westlake, Los Osos, Agoura, St. Francis, Servite, Santa Barbara.
Pool B: Mater Dei, Miramonte, Murietta Valley, Jesuit, Righetti, Orange Lutheran.
Pool C: Laguna Beach, Newport Harbor, Dana Hills, Cathedral Catholic, Acalanes, San Marcos.
Pool D: Loyola, Huntington Beach, Campolindo, Dos Pueblos, Claremont, Cerritos.
Cross-Country
The Laguna boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams are in Minnesota this week to compete at the Lucky Lindy Invitational which started Thursday at Little Falls Country Club.
In its opener Sept. 5, the Laguna boys’ program ran its lower-level teams at the Seaside Invitational at Ventura State Beach.
Individual times for the Breakers: Ryan Whitlock, 17:47; Liam Duncan, 17:48; Dylan Miller,17:54; Luc LaMontagne, 17:58; Sam Damesheck, 18:01; Massimo Lucidi, 18:10; Luke Colburn, 18:31; Brody Seebass, 18:37; William Krammer, 18:55; Gabriel Sivetts, 19:01; Liam Yates, 19:08; Daniel Peterson, 19:16; Ryan Marx, 19:33; Clancy Cooper, 19:35; Alex Bonnin, 19:39; Tim Loughlin, 19:40; Nils Nietsch, 19:42; Jaden Orr, 20:01; Jake Onodera, 20:10; Guy Thomas, 20:17: Russel Oliver, 21:23; Cale Airey, 22:17; Louis Skaist, 22:56; Charles Dube, 23:06; Jahsun Barrack, 27:29; Max Blanchard, 24:29; Matthew Ghere, 24:51; Jack Farley, 27:30.
The Laguna girls’ team began its season Saturday at the Mt. SAC Fastback Shootout in Walnut. The Breakers rested their top eight girls due to the trip to Minnesota, Coach Steve Lalim said.
“It was a great way to start the season,” Lalim said. “The girls performed well, giving them good momentum into the season.”
Laguna times at the Fastback Shootout: Grace LaMontagne, 14:01; Ana Kelly, 14:09; Annie Brown, 14:12; Greer Jacobs, 14:20; Tiana Huong, 15:02; Callista Helms, 15:08; Ellie Glade, 15:35; Amy You, 15:47; Natalia Szeibert, 16:04; Rachel Hunter, 16:09; Paige Vitolo, 16:10; Hannah Vogel, 16:23; Katie Williams, 16:24; Cloe Goria, 16:44; Sarah Dworakowski, 16:45; Olive Galland, 16:45; Mackenna Morrice, 17:02; Sidney Kimball, 17:16; Jaclyn Cortellessa, 17:23; Brooke Baldwin, 17:35; Kay Oines, 17:39; Collette Hammett, 18:48; Paige Patillo, 18:48; Claire O’Connor; 18:50; Sophia Airey, 19:42.
Girls’ Tennis
The Breakers opened their season with convincing wins over San Juan Hills and Mission Viejo.
Laguna downed host San Juan Hills, 16-2, in its opener Sept. 5.
The Breakers got a clean sweep in singles action with No. 1 Kira Hamilton winning, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0; No. 2 Ashley Shelton, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0 (default), and No. 3 Kelly Keller, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.
Also winning by sweep was the Breakers’ No.1 doubles team of Malia Helms/Madeline Loomis who won, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.
On Tuesday, Laguna cruised in its home opener by taking down Mission Viejo, 17-1. The Breakers’ doubles teams swept the Diablos. Keller teamed with Bailey Jaeger at No. 1 doubles and the pair won, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3, Helms/Loomis won, 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2, and No. 3 Ashley Fair/Natasha Keces won, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.
The Breakers also swept at Nos. 2 and 3 singles with Hamilton (No. 2) winning, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0, and Shelton and Keller shared time at No. 3 singles and won, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0.
“We have a great, veteran team as our doubles line-up has a lot of experience playing doubles, which often isn’t the norm,” Laguna Coach Don Davis said. “And, our singles players have a lot of tournament experience, including 2013 (Orange Coast) league MVP Kira Hamilton, and league runner-up Ashley Shelton.”
The Breakers hosted Mater Dei in nonleague play Thursday. The score wasn’t available at press time.
Girls’ Golf
The Breakers play one match next week when they host Dana Hills at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ben Brown Golf Course.
Sand Volleyball
The Breakers played their first game of the Orange County High School Beach League Tuesday and recorded a sweep of Edison in Newport Beach.
Team 1: Reed Donenfeld/Dane Olson won, 28-26, 21-15; Team 2 Pete Obradovich/Liam Christiansen won, 21-17, 21-18; Team 3: Jack Burgi/Nick Rieckhoff won, 21-14, 21-14; Team 4: Tyler Alter/Adam Lythgoe won, 21-4, 21-6; Team 5: Tyler Jackson/Cole Paxson won, 21-12, 21-13; 4-Man Team: Reed Donenfeld, Dane Olson, Pete Obradovich, Liam Christiansen won, 21-4, 21-9.
The Breakers take on Irvine at 3:30 p.m. next Tuesday at Irvine Valley College.
CIF Weekly Rankings
Football: Laguna Beach (No. 9, Southern Division)
Boys’ Water Polo: Laguna Beach (No. 1, Division 3)
Boys’ Cross-Country: Laguna Beach (No. 4, Division 4)
Girls’ Cross-Country: Laguna Beach (No. 2, Division 4)
Twitter: @MikeSciacca