Sports
Newport Harbor Sweeps Los Alamitos in Boys Volleyball
Griffins stay close in first game, but Sailors capture the next two games easily to remain undefeated in the Sunset League and get some well-deserved rest.
Twenty minutes into the first game Wednesday, Los Alamitos found itself tied with Newport Harbor, one of the best teams in the state. The Griffins served to take the lead but missed. Then they committed an unforced error and surrendered a couple of kills, and suddenly Los Alamitos had lost game-set and pretty much the match.
“We came out strong, but we just can’t seem to get over the hump,” lamented Griffins coach Mike Whitcomb after watching his team get swept at home by the Sailors, 25-21, 25-10, 25-16. “They got the four points at the end. That has happened to us in just about every game this year. They responded to the pressure and we didn’t.”
While the Griffins have only one victory in seven Sunset League games and two for the season, they shouldn’t feel bad. The Sailors are a pretty good team. They proved that with last weekend's performance at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, defeating several ranked teams and reaching the final, only to lose to top-ranked Santa Margarita for the third time this season.
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After getting past the first game, Newport Harbor used a balanced attack to move out in front 16-8, then rattled off seven straight points served by senior Rusty Sary, who had four aces. A kill by Kevin Rakestraw gave the Sailors Game 2.
Newport Harbor (17-5, 7-0) hasn’t lost a two-game lead all season, and they didn’t against Los Alamitos. The Sailors went on a 10-2 run to lead 17-7 behind Sary’s fifth ace and then sided-out with the Griffins to win by eight.
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Sary had four of his eight kills in the final game, and Cody Caldwell had five of his game-high 11 kills in Game 3 to lead the Sailors. Clary Carr and Rakestraw each added five kills, and setter Ian Sequeira finished with 27 assists.
“I thought we came out and played pretty well. Give Los Al credit. They came out early and played hard,” Sailors coach Dan Glenn said. “We have played a lot of volleyball in the past week. This is our only game this week so we wanted to come in and play hard and get ready for next week.”
Austin Arcala led the Griffins with eight kills.
