PREP ROUNDUP : Newport Harbor Ends Volleyball Jinx

Newport Harbor’s seniors have never won a Southern Section 5-A volleyball playoff match, so the Sailors didn’t need any extra incentive when they played Santa Margarita in a wild-card match Tuesday night.

The unseeded Sailors (18-4) rolled to a 15-7, 15-3, 15-7 victory at Newport Harbor behind the play of--you guessed it--seniors Tara Kroesch and Maureen McLaren.

“This was a really good win for us,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said. “We’ve lost in the first round for three consecutive years. Now that we’re over our hump, we have nothing to worry about.”

Glenn, of course, was only kidding. Fresh on his mind was a first-round match at Royal (17-3) Thursday night.

“We’re going into that one blind,” Glenn said. “We don’t know anything about Royal.”

Newport Harbor made it look easy against Santa Margarita (7-9). The Sailors never trailed and the score was tied only once--1-1 in the second game.

Newport Harbor built leads of 6-0 in the first game, 10-1 in the second game, and 11-3 in the third.

Kroesch, who was slowed by a knee injury most of the season, played one of her best matches, finishing with 15 kills. McLaren added 14 kills, three blocks and an ace.

“That was the best Tara has played all year,” Glenn said. “We’re doing more with her on offense than we were before. We’re getting her the ball.”