Boys volleyball: Sailors cruise pase Cal Hi

Barry Faulkner

NEWPORT BEACH - If one could compare the 16-day CIF Southern

Section Division II boys volleyball playoffs to making a paycheck last,

Newport Harbor spent mere pocket change to defeat first-round visitor

California High Friday night.

The Sea View League champions (25-6) dispatched the Condors, 15-2,

15-2, 15-6, to advance to Tuesday’s second round against San Clemente

(13-1). The site will be determined today by a coin flip.

Newport defeated the South Coast League champions, 15-10, 10-15, 15-2, in best-of-three pool play at the Orange County Championships March 15.

But the Tritons (14-1) will surely provide a more challenging test

than California (11-6), the third-place team from the Del Rio League, for

which the starting lineup averaged a shade taller than 5-foot-10.

The Condor cheerleaders found their seats just as the second game was

ending. And, despite playing only one starter in the third game -- senior

setter Loyd Wright -- the hosts made sure those cheerleaders were back in

their cars before their engines had cooled.

The Sailors took some time to find the gas, as Cal Hi scored the first

point. There were 17 combined sideouts, before the Sailors found their

cruising gear.

But a short time after the Condors held a 2-1 lead, the Sailors began

methodically destroying their overmatched foe. After Harbor took a 3-2

advantage, a Wright ace jump-started a nine-point run, which the first of

several Cal Hi timeouts failed to derail.

The first game took a mere 15 minutes and the second game even fewer,

as Harbor scored the first three points, then reeled off an 11-point

skein, before greeting the Condor cheerleaders with the final point.

Middle blocker Jamie Diefenbach, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, took advantage

of the Condors’ lack of height, pounding seven kills in the middle.

“We’ve been working on our middle and that’s the thing we need to

improve on as we continue in the playoffs,” Glenn said. “I didn’t like

the way we started, but once we got going, I thought we found a pretty

good flow. The main thing was, I thought we played with some speed.”

Outside hitter Greg Perrine also connected on seven kills, while

fellow senior Erik Peterson and Brian Gaeta had three kills apiece,

before watching their teammates finish up.

Junior Paul Toman, a 6-3 middle, had five kills in the third game, as

did 6-3 junior Nick Glassic.

Senior Paul Lieberman added three kills off the bench, while freshman

Brett Perrine and senior Matt Casserly also helped Wright produce 31

assists.

Wright also had two of the Sailors’ four service winners, while Cal Hi

helped the Harbor cause by missing seven serves, six of those jump

serves.

California was paced by 5-8 senior outside hitter Matt Amido and 6-0

senior outside hitter Robert Castro, who evenly shared 12 of the Condors’

15 combined kills.