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Girls’ Volleyball: Sailors lose in five

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The Newport Harbor High girls’ volleyball team continues to go the distance in Sunset League play. Four of the Sailors’ six league matches have been decided in five sets.

The latest one saw the Sailors fall on Tuesday, and it cost them a chance to move into a first-place tie in league. The Sailors let one slip away at home to Los Alamitos, which rallied for a 27-25, 20-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-7 win.

Newport Harbor finds itself at 4-2 in league and sharing second place with Los Alamitos, instead of first with 5-1 Huntington Beach. The Oilers dropped their first league match, losing to Edison on Tuesday.

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“We could’ve [been at the top with the Oilers],” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said, “but I mean we’re talking about Los Al here. [The Griffins have] won the league about 10 years in a row. They’re not going to come in here and lay down. You got to go out and beat them, and we didn’t. They outplayed us in that fifth [set]. That was disappointing because we’ve lost twice in five in our own gym.”

The other five-set league loss on the Sailors’ floor was to Huntington Beach, currently ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA poll. Newport Harbor has another shot at the Oilers.

The Sailors travel to Huntington Beach on Oct. 28, but before then they play at Marina on Thursday. With four league matches left, the league is still up for grabs.

Defending league champion Los Alamitos found itself back in contention by coming back from a 2-1 deficit on the road. The Griffins returned the favor to the Sailors, outlasting them in five sets on their court.

Los Alamitos controlled the ball in the fifth set, with Sydney Beyma and Hannah Wehring pounding away. Beyma is one of two returning starters off a team that claimed the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA title and finished runner-up in the CIF State Division I final last year.

Beyma recorded four of her 19 kills in the final set, which also saw Julia Patterson serve strong, collecting one service ace. Patterson, a setter, also distributed the ball to Sarah Tuioti-Mariner and Wehring for kills. Patterson amassed 51 assists, and Wehring finished with 15 kills.

“It was kind of a game of runs, except for Game 1, which was back and forth,” Los Alamitos Coach Dave Huber said. “[The Sailors] went on the run to finish Game 2. They jumped up early in Game 3. We jumped early in Game 4 and held on. We had good energy [and built] momentum from Game 4.

“Everybody’s alive now. I like our chances if we continue to play with that energy. The same thing, it can go the other way just as fast [like] how kind of this match went.”

The Sailors appeared in control, winning Games 2 and 3. Setter Ellie Hagadorn fed everyone, totaling 60 assists. Remy Wilson and Jaclyn Brown led the way, finishing with 21 and 19 kills, respectively, and Jessy Rath and Vivian Donovan produced nine kills apiece.

The fourth set was tight early on, featuring eight ties. The Griffins began to distance themselves from Newport Harbor after the set was at 13-13, going on a 5-0 run. Their lead never grew bigger than five, but the Griffins forced a fifth set.

Both teams played their fourth five-set match in league. In the decisive set, Los Alamitos trailed, 2-1, after Wilson recorded an ace. That turned out to be Newport Harbor’s last lead. The Griffins closed things out on a 14-5 run, setting up a showdown at home against Huntington Beach on Thursday.

“We don’t have much time to worry about this [setback],” Glenn said. “We got to get back and get after it, have a good practice [on Wednesday], and try to get through Marina [on Thursday], and get ready for the Oilers [on Oct. 28].

“Our coaches thought that two losses you still had a good shot of winning the league title, and that’s our second loss. I think if we can win out [we have a chance at winning league]. We’re going to have to beat two really good teams [Huntington Beach and Edison on Oct. 30] to do that, but we still have a shot.”

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