Newport Harbor Rallies to Win in 4-A Volleyball

The way Beau Sheward figured, he and his teammates on the Newport Harbor High School volleyball team had no reason to fear their youth and inexperience during the Southern Section 4-A playoffs.

The Sailors, who start five underclassmen, rallied from 13-12 deficits in the last two games for a 15-11, 9-15, 15-13, 15-13 victory over Santa Barbara in the 4-A semifinals Wednesday night at Santa Barbara City College.

“Our team has been in situations like this before in Junior Olympic matches,” said Sheward, a junior who finished with 34 kills. “We knew what to do.”

In doing so, third-seeded Newport Harbor (17-3) advances to the finals against San Marcos, which defeated Woodbridge, 15-8, 4-15, 15-7, 17-15. The finals will be at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.

Unseeded Santa Barbara, the runner-up to San Marcos in the Channel League, ended the season 15-4.

Newport Harbor reached the final for the fourth time in 12 seasons. The Sailors won the title in 1980 under Charlie Brande and in 1987 under current Coach Dan Glenn.

“We played well,” Glenn said. “It’s tough to come up here on the road and beat a great team like this.”

Junior Justin McIntee, playing on a sore left ankle he injured in the second game, had 24 kills, and sophomore Mark McAnlis added 20.

“When Justin went down with the ankle injury,” Glenn said, “I thought, ‘There goes the season.’ ”

But McIntee came back, as did the Sailors in the final two games.

Junior Frank Griffo came off the bench to provide Newport Harbor with some much-needed momentum in the third game. The Sailors blew a 9-3 lead and were trailing, 13-12, when Griffo checked in with a kill and a block to put them ahead, 14-13. Sheward ended the game with a kill.

Santa Barbara held a 13-12 lead in th fourth game, but a kill by senior Matt Sherwood, an ace by Sheward and a kill by Griffo ended the match.

Griffo finished with 11 blocks and McIntee added three of his five in the fourth game.

“Griffo and Justin had some big blocks down the stretch,” Glenn said.

Sheward had 14 kills in the first game as Newport Harbor built a 5-1 lead. Santa Barbara came back and tied it, 7-7, but Sheward had three kills and an ace to spark a 5-0 Sailor run that was the difference in the game.

In the second game, Alexey Dvortcsak had nine kills as Santa Barbara built an 11-6 lead and held off a Newport Harbor comeback.

Dvortcsak had 29 kills and Morgan Mainz added 25 for Santa Barbara.