Banged-up Sailors move closer to clinching at least a share of Sunset League boys’ volleyball title

A week off has come at a good time for the Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball team.

Two of the Sailors’ top players — Spencer Lawrence and Dayne Chalmers — are hurting. Coach Rocky Ciarelli said Lawrence missed his second match this week because of tightness in the back of his shoulder, and the back of Chalmers’ tricep is bothering him again.

The Sailors are on spring break this week, but they haven’t had a break from the court in Sunset League action. They played at home on Friday, and they didn’t look like themselves in the opening set with Los Alamitos, and a lot of that was because of who was not playing.

Lawrence, a senior middle blocker bound for Ohio State, was in khakis shorts and a Navy blue polo, and while Chalmers was in uniform, Ciarelli said he sat the sophomore standout in Game 1 because he had been sick. Chalmers played in the next three sets, all of which Newport Harbor won to beat the Griffins, 21-25, 25-13, 25-17, 25-18, and improve to 7-0 in league.

Newport Harbor is one win away from clinching at least a share of its second straight league crown. It will be a while before the Sailors, who are 22-3 overall and ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, play again.

The next time the Sailors hit the court will be on April 25, when they play host to No. 7 Edison. The rest of the five schools in the league are on spring break next week. With three contests to go in league, Newport Harbor is two matches up on Edison and Huntington Beach, who are both 5-2 in league.

“We got a week off, so hopefully we can get everybody ready to go,” said Ciarelli, whose team beat Los Alamitos (12-12, 2-5 in league) for the third time this year, twice in league and once during the Orange County Championships. “There haven’t been very many times we’ve run our full team out there, so, yeah, you know, I’m a little worried, because it’s getting late in the year. It’s not as if you can just put it together [for the playoffs]. You got to have some guys out there healthy, ready to go, and we haven’t really been all that healthy all year. Scott Schweitzer had a concussion. He was out for about three weeks.”

With Lawrence out, another future Buckeye played well.

Ethan Talley, a junior middle blocker committed to Ohio State, finished with 10 kills, four solo blocks, three block assists and three service aces.

Cole Pender, a junior outside hitter committed to UCLA, produced nine kills, five digs, two aces and two block assists. Landon Monroe totaled seven kills, and he and Joe Karlous (seven digs) handled the setting duties.

Chalmers added five kills and five digs, while Jack Higgs had four kills on five attempts.

“That’s the one thing about [being on spring] break, they’re used going to school and playing a match, and I don’t know what they do during the day when they don’t have school. We weren’t really focused tonight,” Ciarelli said. “The good thing is I’ve played 11 or 12 guys and we’re 22-3. That’s pretty impressive. We’ve been playing a lot of guys and winning.”

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Twitter: @ByDCP