Newport in final

NEWPORT BEACH — An older man approached 50-year-old Dan Glenn on the volleyball court he’s been the coach at Newport Harbor High for almost half his life.

“It has changed a lot,” the man said of the sport.

“It has changed a little bit,” Glenn acknowledged with a big smile.

One thing has remained relatively the same. Glenn once again has his girls’ volleyball team in contention for a CIF Southern Section championship.

For the 10th time in his 24 years, Glenn has guided Newport Harbor to the title match after his No. 1-seeded Sailors swept Santa Margarita, 25-23, 25-13, 25-18, in a Division I-AA semifinal at home Tuesday night.

The Sailors (28-6) got past the defending section champion Eagles (24-10). Next is their first final appearance in six years.

Glenn remembers it well because the title losses are the ones that hurt the most. The latest championship match offers an opportunity for the Sailors to be crowned section champion for the seventh time under Glenn and a chance to settle a score with Los Alamitos.

The championship at Cypress College on Saturday features two teams splitting the Sunset League title. Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos aren’t sharing this championship.

When the public address announcer told Glenn the No. 2-seeded Griffins were on the verge of sweeping No. 3 Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach in the semifinals Tuesday, his smile grew. Glenn and the Sailors want another shot at Los Alamitos after it ruined their outright league title hopes.

“Personally, I want to play Los Al just because I want to break that tiebreaker,” Newport Harbor senior Katey Thompson said. “We beat them once and they beat us once. I just think that would be fun and an intense [match].”

The semifinal against Santa Margarita turned out to be a fight at the start. Eight times the teams were tied in Game 1, no one getting ahead by more than four points.

Santa Margarita’s big hitter, Kylie Hargreaves, the Division I Player of the Year in 2008, kept the Eagles ahead. Seeing Santa Margarita four points away from winning the opening game, Thompson made her 6-foot-1 presence felt.

Down the stretch, the middle blocker either evened things for the Sailors, or gave them the lead. Thompson blocked two shots in Game 1, her second put Newport Harbor at game point.

Kirby Burnham quickly gave the Sailors the game. The outside hitter hammered a kill, as the Sailors won, 25-23.

Thompson continued to create problems for Hargreaves and anyone else who dared to hit her way. Thompson finished with seven solo blocks and assisted on four others.

“We knew that she was going to be the key because a lot of teams right now have good outside hitters,” said Glenn, whose Sailors clinched a berth into the CIF State tournament by reaching the section final, the first for this group of players. “But there’s not many middles in high school that can match her.”

Setter Cinnamon Sary also helped Newport Harbor’s defense by using her size at 5-foot-10 to turn back shots. The sophomore also had the offense in a fluid rhythm, allowing Thompson (14 kills), Burnham (13 kills) and Madison Brown (seven kills) to swing away.

Many of those shots proved to be winners in Game 2. This is where things got away from Santa Margarita and its bid to beat the Sailors after losing to them at the Durango Invitational in Las Vegas.

With the game tied at 8-8, the Sailors went on a huge run. The only thing stopping Newport Harbor was it reached the maximum points possible as it closed out the second game with a 17-5 run.

“This is a team we can’t give big runs to,” said Santa Margarita Coach Cristy Chapman-Uhrig, who saw her team return to the problems that plagued it early on in the season. “Game 1 and 3, it’s everything that I wanted, other than Game 3 at the end.

“We knew that we had to stop them.”

No one has been able slow Newport Harbor down this postseason. The Sailors are on their way to capping a dominating season with their first section title in seven years.