Boys’ Volleyball: Sailors fall short
SAN CLEMENTE — Forget about playing the underdog role on Thursday. The Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball team didn’t accept the tag.
Coach Steve Astor said his Sailors went into the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs believing they were the team to beat, not third-seeded San Clemente, a team with only two losses.
At the start, the Sailors sure looked like underdogs.
The Tritons cruised in the opening set at home. Their coach, Ken Goldstone, never thought the match would go the distance.
He found out it would.
The Sailors bounced back. They turned it up, playing more aggressively. As a result, they forced a decisive fifth set on the road.
San Clemente was in a position it had only been in twice before, playing a fifth set.
The Sailors had the Tritons on their heels. Before the fifth set, Goldstone told his players, “If we’re going to go down, just go down aggressively. Let’s get some swings. Don’t be tentative.”
The Tritons listened to their coach. They came out firing away, scoring the first three points, helping the Tritons survive a second-round scare by edging the Sailors, 25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 16-25, 15-10.
The Sailors’ slow start in the fifth set hurt their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals for the first time under Astor. He’s been in charge at Newport Harbor for two seasons. Each time his team has lost in the second round to teams from the South Coast League.
“They’re a real good team,” Astor said of the Tritons, who improved to 31-2. “They scrapped. They were doing a great job on Kevin [Rakestraw], slowing him down a bit, but Kevin overcame that. They served a little better in Game 5.”
Astor warned the Sailors about their service game before the match, telling them, “If we’re going to serve timid, we’re going to go home in three.” Newport Harbor (21-9) made that adjustment.
Steven Duhoux settled down after the first set and collected 43 assists. The senior primarily went to Rakestraw, a 7-foot senior, and junior outside hitter Peirce Ward. Rakestraw led Newport Harbor with 23 kills and Ward added 13. Ward gave the team another option to compete against San Clemente’s handful of weapons.
The Tritons were already without their best player, Lucas Yoder, a USC-bound outside hitter. Gladstone said he suffered a concussion while skateboarding on April 16.
It turned out it wouldn’t be a skate in the park for the rest of the Tritons against Newport Harbor. They managed to reach the quarterfinals, where they will play at Mater Dei on Saturday, because of their balanced attack.
Garrett Costello led the way for San Clemente, recording 16 kills. Five of the kills came in the fifth set, including the one to clinch the match.
Setter Jack Yoder, who finished with 56 assists, kept finding Costello in the right spots. He also went to Peter Van Liefde (14 kills), AJ Hammer (10) and Shawn Stephens (10).
The key was the performance turned in by Van Liefde, an opposite. He delivered down the stretch, coming up with a couple kills and a block in the fifth set.
“We had some chances,” said Astor, referring to when the Sailors went on a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to 12-9 in the fifth set. “We felt we kind of ran out of time in our season.”