Newport Harbor boys’ volleyball improves to 30-0 with second-round sweep at Servite

Newport Harbor High entered Thursday knowing a boys’ volleyball team from the Trinity League was going to give the Sailors a hard time.

The Sailors took Servite’s best shot and still swept to improve to 30-0 on the season.

Top-seeded Newport Harbor beat the host Friars 25-16, 25-19, 25-20 in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

Next for the Sailors, ranked No. 1 in the country by MaxPreps.com, will be another match on the road. They travel to play Mission Hills Alemany on Saturday at 6 p.m. Alemany swept Santa Barbara 25-20, 28-26, 25-22 in the second round on Thursday.

The Friars (17-13) stayed with Newport Harbor in stretches. They were tied at 11-11 in the first set, trailed 19-16 in the second set, and led 19-18 in the third set. The Sailors adjusted every time, going on runs to pull away from the fourth-place team from the Trinity League.

“We just had to stay with the game plan,” Newport Harbor coach Rocky Ciarelli. “We are pretty solid everywhere, so we can’t try and do too much. We just have to do what we do. I think our serving hurt us in the last set, but you can see it at the end, the kids did a good job [with] their serves and putting pressure on them.”

Cole Pender, a UCLA commit, led the Sailors with 15 kills. Jack Higgs and Dayne Chalmers had nine kills apiece, while Caden Garrido and Ethan Talley each had six kills. Higgs, Chalmers and Talley each added two blocks.

“They’re a good team,” Pender said of the Friars, which qualified for the postseason as an at-large team. “We just played our game like we have all year and that is what has gotten us in this position. Each team is going to play their best against us because we are the number one seed. Everyone is going to give it their all. We have to come ready to fight every game like we did tonight.”

Newport Harbor managed to stay in control in the first set by closing it out on a 14-5 run. When Servite took a 19-18 lead in the third set, Ciarelli called a timeout.

“Coach told us to just keep fighting,” Pender said. “This was a good test. We just have to keep fighting and never give up. We had a few huge blocks at the end of the third [set] that got us the lead. We just have to keep doing that. It’s the little things that makes us win.”

Christopher Morikawa led Servite with eight kills to go with his two blocks. James McGhee had six kills and Gil Herold had three kills and three blocks.

“It was another successful season,” Servite coach Matthew Marrujo said. “It’s the first time in our program’s history that we made the playoffs four years in a row, and we advanced to the second round three out of the four years. We are starting to put good seasons as a program.”

The Sailors knocked off Servite for the second time this season. In the way of their second straight semifinal appearance is Alemany (26-2-1), the runner-up finisher from the Mission League.

“We haven’t seen Alemany,” Ciarelli said. “We are going to be on the road again. We have to remain consistent and stay on [top of things]. That is what worried me in that third set, and that could be trouble. You have to keep with it.”

MANNY ALVAREZ is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @MAlvarez02