Girls’ Volleyball: Sailors await playoff fate
Six months have passed since the end of the Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball season. The conclusion of that season began to look eerily similar to the situation the girls’ volleyball team at Newport Harbor found itself on Tuesday night.
Dan Glenn and Bryan Cottriel coached the boys in the spring, Glenn as the assistant and Cottriel as the head coach. The two are in different roles with the girls’ team this fall, Glenn is in charge and Cottriel is his assistant.
The two coaches needed some help going into the Sailors’ Sunset League finale. Their team did its part, sweeping Fountain Valley, 25-21, 25-19, 25-10, and then came the waiting game for Glenn and Cottriel.
The two coaches hoped their girls would play a league playoff match, just as the boys did in May to determine the league’s third and final guaranteed CIF Southern Section postseason berth.
The boys lost and wound up missing the playoffs for the first time with Glenn serving as a coach or in an advisory role. He has been at Newport Harbor since 1986.
The girls might find themselves out of the playoffs as well for the first time under Glenn’s watch.
The help never came for Newport Harbor. Edison defeated defending league champion Los Alamitos in five sets on Tuesday, and the Chargers and Griffins finished 7-3 in league, one match ahead of the Sailors.
Newport Harbor (14-13, 6-4 in league) now has to wait until Friday to find out whether it qualified for the Division 1AA playoffs as an at-large team. Huntington Beach, the league champion, is in, as are Los Alamitos and Edison.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll get in as an at-large, and I hope so, because I think we’re playing pretty good volleyball,” said Glenn, whose team finished fourth in league. “We competed in [the] Santa Barbara [Tournament of Champions on Friday and Saturday] against some good teams. We were right there in league. We’ve lost a lot of matches in five [sets]. It’s one of those years where we have the ability to play with anybody.
“I still think our best volleyball is ahead of us. Hopefully we get a shot to show that. It’s one of those years where I don’t think [the playoff selection committee is] going to put us with one of the top-three seeds, even if we go as an at-large. Everybody is very, very beatable. Hopefully we make the playoffs. I’m praying.”
The Sailors’ strength of schedule can only enhance their chances of earning an at-large entry. They have played rival Corona del Mar, ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA poll, twice, No. 10 Huntington Beach twice, and No. 8 Flintridge Sacred Heart once. The only problem for Newport Harbor is it lost those five marquee matchups.
Down the stretch in league, the Sailors dropped three of five matches, including a big one to Edison on Thursday. The following day they traveled to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, where the Sailors went 1-3, losing to Carlsbad La Costa Canyon, Flintridge Sacred Heart and Cerritos Valley Christian, ranked No. 10 in Division 2AA. Newport Harbor’s lone win at the two-day tournament came against Dana Hills. The win put the Sailors at .500 overall, a prerequisite to be considered for an at-large postseason berth.
Newport Harbor is now above .500 thanks to getting past Fountain Valley, which finished 2-8 in league. Jaclyn Brown finished with six kills and Gabby Shelley added five kills, while Kate Hefner produced four service aces and Brooke Schweitzer contributed two aces and 10 digs.
Shelley and Schweitzer are two of seven seniors on the team. The Sailors honored their seniors on Tuesday. Glenn doesn’t want their season to end.
“Hopefully it’s not the same,” Glenn said of his girls not being able to compete in the section playoffs like the boys last season.
“Being in this league, it’s going to happen [us not making the playoffs one year]. I don’t know when. It’s going to happen, just like with the boys last year. We got third place last year and we ended up not making it.”