PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP : Woodbridge Still Winless in League as El Toro Rolls

Woodbridge’s 15-5, 15-8, 15-12 loss to El Toro in a Sea View League boys’ volleyball match Thursday at El Toro High was painfully typical for Warrior Coach Rich Polk.

Woodbridge (5-5, 0-4 in league), ranked eighth in Orange County, lost its fifth consecutive match, leaving Polk scrambling for a motivational solution.

“It’s all up here,� Polk said, pointing to his head. “We’re just not competing.�

Polk tried to prod his front-line players by starting the second string against seventh-ranked El Toro (5-6, 3-1) Thursday.

Reserve middle blocker Matt Durocher had three kills to keep Woodbridge close early, but El Toro had too many weapons.

El Toro’s Steve Hilbert had 14 kills and Bill Coblentz, playing only his third match since recovering from a foot injury, had 12 to lead the Chargers’ outside attack.

Middle blockers Sean Callahan (eight kills) and Matt Mauney (seven kills) and reserve outside hitter Zack Humphrey (seven kills) balanced the Charger offense. El Toro closed out Game 1 by scoring eight consecutive points.

Polk put in his starters for Game 2 but it didn’t make much of a difference until Game 3, when the Warriors actually took a 11-9 lead.

Woodbridge middle blocker Jared Dannis had six of his seven kills in Game 3, but the Warriors had four hitting errors during the final five points with Steve Jobes’ errant spike ending the match.

“Now we have to win six straight league matches if we want to make the playoffs,� Polk said. “We can do it, and we play well when the guys start caring enough about it. But they haven’t and that is killing us right now.�

The mental part of the game also has El Toro Coach Mike Jagd confused about his team.

Tuesday, the Chargers lost a close five-game match to fourth-ranked Irvine, but remained in a second-place tie with Santa Margarita with Thursday’s victory.

“This team can play with anyone when they are on,� Jagd said, “but they can also lose to anyone. They are so unpredictable.�

*

In other Sea View League matches:

Irvine 3, Corona del Mar 0--Outside hitter Blair Eldridge had 10 kills and six aces for fourth-ranked Irvine (9-1, 4-0), which won 15-10, 15-5, 15-10.

Santa Margarita 3, Newport Harbor 0--Trey Nelson had 11 kills for Santa Margarita (8-3, 3-1) which won, 15-13, 15-9, 15-12. Wes Badorek had 13 kills for Newport Harbor (4-4, 2-2).

In the Pacific Coast League:

Laguna Beach 3, Laguna Hills 0--Kurt Nelson, Dan Styles and Justin Maison each had 10 kills for No. 2 Laguna Beach (7-0, 4-0) which won, 15-5, 15-10, 15-9.