Prep Volleyball : Newport Harbor Holds Off All Challengers, Wins Title

Newport Harbor High School reaffirmed its position Saturday night as the No. 1 boys’ volleyball team in the Southern Section by winning the Redondo-Mira Costa Tournament with a 15-7, 8-15, 15-7 victory over No. 7 Rolling Hills at Redondo.

In taking what is regarded as the top invitational in California, Newport Harbor also defeated Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, the No. 2 team in the 4-A Division, in the semifinals and No. 3 Goleta Dos Pueblos in the first round of the playoffs. In between, the Sailors also beat Arcadia, No. 3 in the 3-A, to avenge two one-game losses during pool play earlier in the day.

“This was like an out-of-sync day for us,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said afterward. “We played three road matches this week, and that was tough. But I think it helped us to play that bad in the morning.”

The Sailors, led by tournament most valuable player Hugh Foster, had two 16-14 wins in pool play over Santa Barbara and North Torrance, in addition the double setbacks to Arcadia. But, as was the case almost all day in the 30-team field, they rallied.

In the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with Mira Costa, for example, Newport Harbor trailed, 7-3, in the one-game semifinal. After a timeout, the Sailors rallied to tie, 9-9, went ahead, 12-9, and finally put it away on a mid-court spike by Foster and a shot by Mira Costa’s Eric Fonoimoana that went long.

The opening game in the best-of-three match against Rolling Hills was much the same story, Newport Harbor turning a 6-6 contest into a 15-7 win. In Game 2, Rolling Hills, led all day by Dan Greenbaum, an All-Southern Section selection last season as a junior, jumped out to a 6-2 advantage and never lost control.

But any thoughts about a possible upset quickly disappeared in Game 3 as the Sailors took a 7-1 lead and were threatened only once, at 11-7. After that, they scored four unanswered points for the victory, Drew Sheward putting down the final score with a soft-touch hook shot just beyond the Mira Costa blockers.

Foster and Greenbaum were joined on the all-tournament team by Fonoimoana, John Alstrom of Newport Harbor, Ryan O’Hara of Palisades, Perry Carter of Arcadia, Tim Vincent of L.A. University, Tagore Evans of Santa Monica and Jason Mount of Dos Pueblos.