PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP : No. 1 Marina Upset by Newport Harbor

After losing its first two matches of the season to Edison and Huntington Beach, the Newport Harbor High School volleyball team wasn’t about to go 0-3 against the Sunset League.

The Sailors, ranked eighth in Orange County, upset top-ranked Marina, 15-9, 10-15, 15-7, 15-8, in a nonleague game Wednesday night at Newport Harbor.

Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said he was surprised his team is 4-2 after playing one of the toughest preseason schedules in the county.

“I’m pleased, especially after opening the year 0-2,” Glenn said. “We’ve beaten Laguna Beach, Dana Hills, Mira Costa and now Marina. We haven’t had any slouches on our schedule.”

Marina, which won the Dos Pueblos tournament last Saturday, struggled without Dennis Winners, its leading hitter. Winners, who played briefly on the back row in the third and fourth games, has been sidelined with a sore right shoulder.

“Dennis hit probably 150 balls in the Dos Pueblos tournament and his shoulder was sore,” Marina Coach John Burns said. “There could be some slight tears in the shoulder, but we’re not sure yet. We’re just playing it day by day.”

Glenn said Winners’ absence hurt Marina.

“He hits probably 40% of their balls and he’s one of the top players in the Southern Section,” Glenn said.

Marina’s Brant Shelor and John Mull tried to pick up the slack. Shelor had 14 kills, seven blocks and two aces, and Mull added 12 kills.

“I thought we got a good effort from the middle,” Burns said. “But our passing broke down. You have to give Newport Harbor credit. Their outside players pressured the ball.”

Most of that pressure came from the Sailors’ Beau Sheward, the younger brother of USC back-row specialist Drew Sheward. The younger Sheward led Newport Harbor with 17 kills, while middle blocker Frank Griffo added 11 kills and five blocks.

“Beau has really played great for us this week,” Glenn said. “He had 30 kills in the (win against) Dana Hills Tuesday night.”

Griffo carried the Sailors in the first game of the Marina match. He had six kills and an ace as the Sailors went on a 7-0 run midway through the game.

Marina rebounded in the second game.

Mull had four kills and a block, and Shelor had three kills, three blocks and two aces to help the Vikings to a 13-4 lead.

Newport Harbor, sparked by two aces by Louie Baker, a kill by Sheward and a block by Griffo, cut the deficit to 13-10. But Shelor had an ace and Scott Anderson added a block to give Marina the win.

“I thought we did all right in the first couple of games,” Burns said. “Then we started having trouble passing.”

In the third game, Sheward had four kills and Newport Harbor built leads of 9-3 and 13-5 and held on for the win.

Marina (3-1) cut a 9-5 deficit to 9-8 in the fourth game, but Newport Harbor scored the final six points of the game to end the match.

In the Sunset League:

Huntington Beach 3, Fountain Valley 0--Andy Kijewski had 13 kills and Greg Reitz added nine kills for host Huntington Beach (6-0, 2-0 in league), which won, 15-11, 15-5, 15-13.

In the Garden Grove League:

Garden Grove 3, Los Amigos 1--Troy Davis and Ryan Cook each had 10 kills to lead host Garden Grove (4-2, 3-0) to a 15-11, 10-15, 15-11, 15-7 victory. David Tran had 33 assists for Garden Grove.

La Quinta 3, Rancho Alamitos 0--Sam Barbee had 13 kills to lead La Quinta (2-2, 1-2), which won, 16-14, 15-4, 15-6. Teofil Tifrea had 16 kills for Rancho Alamitos (6-3, 2-1).

Pacifica 3, Santiago 0--Matt Howze had 12 kills for host Pacifica (4-2, 3-0), which won, 19-17, 15-5, 15-12.

In the Orange League:

Villa Park 3, Anaheim 2--Tim Mitchell had 16 kills and Craig Smith had 14 kills as visiting Villa Park (3-4, 1-0) won, 15-2, 12-15, 15-0, 10-15, 15-6.

In nonleague play:

Woodbridge 3, Dana Hills 1--Todd Beebe had 13 kills, Nate Hough had 12 kills and Ryan Rauch had 48 assists for host Woodbridge (4-1), which won, 15-6, 9-15, 15-10, 15-7.