Newport Harbor drilled in three

Barry Faulkner

Though Newport Harbor High boys volleyball coach Dan Glenn addressed

his team for about 20 minutes after its 15-3, 15-8, 15-8 nonleague

loss to visiting Huntington Beach Wednesday, he said the tone of the

discussion was less than harsh.

“Sometimes you get beaten so badly, you don’t want to beat a dead

horse,” Glenn said, after returning to a gym than had already emptied

following the 65-minute Oiler romp. “We’re still playing with two raw

setters and (Huntington Coach Rocky Ciarelli) has a pretty solid

team. I didn’t think we played that poorly in the first game, but it

seemed like our errors were glaring.”

There were plenty of errors by the Sailors, who were playing

without three projected starters, two of whom should be back soon to

help them make a run in the Sea View League.

Senior Nedim Pajevic, a 6-foot-9 middle blocker, sat out the match

after missing practice Tuesday, due to a conflict with his

preparation for the Orange County All-Star Basketball Game.

Junior Jaime Diefenbach is still recovering from a torn ACL that

cost him his basketball season, while sophomore Brett Perrine remains

sidelined for the season, due to a torn ACL suffered last in the

basketball campaign. Diefenbach could be back sometime in April.

Any time you come to Newport Harbor, you think you’re in for a

battle,” Ciarelli said. “But (the Sailors) have some young guys and

we’ve been playing really well. I don’t care what sport it is, when

you lose two kids (to injuries), you’re going to struggle. But you

watch, with Danny working with them, they’ll be OK by the end of the

year.”

That time may seem light years away for those who witnessed

Wednesday’s lopsided defeat, but Glenn was far from fatalistic in his

assessment.

“I just think we never really got a run to create some energy,”

Glenn said. “A lot of that had to do with (the Oilers’) play. We

played well over the weekend (at the San Diego Tournament of

Champions), but we weren’t playing against teams quite as good as

Huntington. It’s tough to lose like that in this gym, but we’ll be

back to practice (today).”

Senior middle blocker Paul Toman led the Sailors with nine kills,

while senior outside hitter Mike Toole added seven. Senior Nick

Glassic chipped in six kills and senior Chad Rorden finished with

five for the Sailors. The 6-2 Toman also had the Tars’ only three

stuff blocks.

Junior Adam Schlesinger had 21 assists, while senior Nick Kelly

added six.

Huntington Beach (6-0) was led by Kenny Markwardt, who hammered 13

kills. Eric Eastman (eight kills), Ben Buckalew (seven) and John

Roulette (five) were also consistent weapons for the winners, who

split setting duties between Brock Boyle and Mark Abdou.

Huntington scored 14 of the match’s first 15 points and, after the

second game opened in a 3-3 tie, scored 11 of the next 13 to take

firm command.

The Sailors opened third-game leads of 2-0, 5-3 and 8-5, but

surrendered the final 10 points of the match to drop their

best-of-five season opener.

Things won’t get any easier for the Sailors, who open the Orange

County Championships Friday in pool play against Mission Viejo and

Esperanza. Esperanza was the runner-up in the San Diego Tournament of

Champions.

Elsewhere in high school volleyball on Wednesday:

Eagles trounce Lions

* The Estancia High boys volleyball team made its Golden West

League debut in impressive fashion, sweeping visiting Westminster,

15-5, 15-3, 15-1.

The Eagles (3-0, 1-0 in league) were paced by B.J. Larsen, who

collected five aces, four kills and four digs.

Chris Hartwell added 10 kills and Josh Kornegay contributed seven

kills for the winners.

Westminster fell to 1-3, 0-1.

Sea Kings bounce back

* The Corona del Mar High boys volleyball team bounced back from

a rough finish at the San Diego Tournament of Champions Saturday to

earn a 15-12, 15-8, 15-9 nonleague win at Irvine.

Sophomore Kevin Welch led a balanced attack with 16 kills and

eight digs. Senior Bart Welch (11 kills and nine digs), Myles Yourman

(10 kills and six digs), Brian Brinkerhoff (10 kills), Greg Gabriel

(50 assists), Dominic Rubino (nine digs and two aces), and Tom Welch

(eight digs) also chipped in for the Sea Kings, who are now 2-0, 4-3

including best-of-three tournament matches.

The win came without 6-foot-6 Stanford bound senior middle blocker

Eric Jones, who was cleared to play, but was given another few days

to rest before beginning the Orange County Championships Friday

afternoon, Coach Steve Conti said.

Costa Mesa swept

* The Costa Mesa High boys volleyball team opened Golden West

League action with a three-game loss (6-15, 6-15, 5-15) to host Ocean

View.

Costa Mesa Coach Dave Sorrells said he was impressed with freshman

Andrew Melcer who made his first start and recorded 17 digs. Junior

Mitch Mandel led the Mustangs (1-4) with seven kills and sophomore

Gabe Gonzalez had four kills.

Costa Mesa is at Western in a nonleague match Friday afternoon.