Breakers open season on top

When the Laguna Beach High girls’ volleyball team begins its season Sept. 8, it will do so at the top.

Coach Lance Stewart said his Breakers enter the 2006 season as the top-ranked team in CIF-Southern Section Division IV.

A year removed from an outstanding 24-7 season, one that saw Laguna win the Pacific Coast League championship in its final year in the league, the Breakers have all the ingredients needed to be a serious contender for a CIF crown.

They have eight returning players from last year’s squad that reach the Division IV semifinals before being knocked off by eventual champion Marymount. Seven of those eight returners started last year.

“We should be pretty good,” Stewart said.

That’s an understatement.

Senior setter Mychaela Miller, senior outside hitter Zoe Garrett and junior outside hitter Dana Hutchinson are three returning starters who earned all-league and All-CIF honors a year ago.

Miller and Garrett have already committed to USC, Stewart said, adding that Hutchinson is being recruited by seven of the top 10 college programs in the country.

The return of starters Alex Palmer (defensive specialist/setter, Soph) and Paige Obradovich (defensive specialist, Jr.), plus Laurielle Hofer (quick hitter, Jr.), Brooke Kimball (quick hitter, Sr.), Beka Farrar (outside hitter, Jr.) and Jilly Petersen (outside hitter/middle blocker, Sr.), help to off-set the departure of all-league and all-CIF player Stephanie Darnall.

Darnall, who graduated last June, has since taken her game to San Diego State.

Petersen played varsity two years ago but was sidelined by illness and injury last year.

The roster will also benefit from the skills of Piper Obradovich (outside hitter, Soph.), Meaghan Flynn (outside hitter, Jr.) and Tiffany Chen (defensive specialist, Sr.).

“We are really talented,” Stewart said, a statement more befitting a team that is composed of a few Junior Olympic All-Americans, a few players who played this past summer on one of the nation’s top-ranked girls’ club teams, and a player who played on the Junior National team.

Garrett, who played on that Junior National team, has been selected to play on the U.S. National junior team, Stewart said. She will miss three of the Breakers’ matches this fall, in order to play for the national team.

Stewart can’t blame her for doing so.

“How could you?” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for her, and it’s awesome for our program.”

With everything seemingly in place for a big run in 2006, Stewart mentioned two areas that his team must master in order to reach its potential.

“We just need to learn to play together and stay healthy,” he said.

Last year, injuries — a few minor — upset the team’s chemistry a bit: in addition to Petersen being lost for the season, Garrett suffered a finger early in the season and Paige Obradovich got hurt just before the start of the playoffs.

“We’re healthy now, and we intend on staying that way,” Stewart said. “This team also has a lot of depth. We’re as deep as we’ve been in years. We can really make things happen this year.”

Laguna will be severely tested by a schedule that includes the likes of Mira Costa, Santa Margarita, rival Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor. Appearances in the Torrey Pines Challenge in San Diego and the Orange County Championships also loom ahead.

Stewart said that Mira Costa is ranked No. 1 nationally. The Breakers play the Mustangs on the road Sept. 25. Santa Margarita, whom the Breakers get at home on Oct. 11, is ranked 11th nationally, and Newport Harbor finished third in a prestigious summer tournament in Hawaii.

Several nationally-ranked teams are schedule to compete at the Torrey Pines Challenge Oct. 13-14, he said.

As for Corona del Mar, there will be no more Pacific Coast League wars with the Sea Kings. Laguna is now part of the four-team Orange Coast League and will face Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa and Estancia each three times during league play.

Laguna and Corona del Mar instead will meet in nonleague play on Sept. 27.

“It’s a really tough schedule, but the girls are up for it,” Stewart said. “I think we will be right there.”