ORANGE COUNTY ALL-STAR VOLLEYBALL : Gan Leads North Boys, McLaren Sparks South Girls

Maureen McLaren had the lightning bolt kills and big blocks.

Russ Gan had the light touch on his sets.

And Newport Harbor made it a clean sweep of the most valuable player awards Friday night at the Orange County high school all-star volleyball matches.

Gan had 52 assists to lead the North boys to a 15-17, 16-14, 15-10 victory over the South at Golden West College.

McLaren added seven kills and three blocks as the South girls defeated the North, 15-9, 17-15, 16-18. “Do you know what this means?” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said. “This means that the Newport Harbor coach had a lot of talent this year and couldn’t win with it.”

Gan, The Times’ county player of the year, sparked a balanced North attack in the boys’ match. Justin McIntee, Gan’s Newport Harbor teammate, had 13 kills, Edison’s Joe McCarthy had 12 and Huntington Beach’s Claude Doumerc added nine.

Estancia’s Matt Fuerbringer led the South with 16 kills, including 10 in the first game. Laguna Beach’s Chris Seale and Eric Fegraus each added nine.

Fuerbringer dominated the first game as the South fought off three game points to rally for the victory. The South tied it, 15-15, and ended it on a kill by El Toro’s Mike Gledhill and an ace by Laguna Beach’s Eric Fegraus.

The North rallied from a 12-5 deficit in the second game to win. The North scored its final two points on a Fuerbringer hitting error and a block by Whittier Christian’s Aaron Forrister.

The North built leads of 9-2 and 12-5 in the third game. The South cut it to 13-10 but committed two hitting errors down the stretch to give the North its final two points.

In the girls’ match, the South fought back from a 7-3 deficit in the first game to tie it, 9-9. The South then scored six consecutive points on a McLaren block, three kills by Carpenter and two aces by Corona del Mar’s Charmayne Conley.

The South led, 14-10, in the second game, but the North fought off four match points to tie it, 15-15. But kills by Newport Harbor’s Tara Kroesch and El Toro’s Wendy Balut gave the South the victory.

The North won the third game, breaking a 16-16 tie on Becki Gehlke’s kill and a South hitting error.

Capistrano Valley’s Allyson Carpenter added nine kills for the South.

Mater Dei’s Amy Moeller had eight kills and Los Alamitos’ Kelly Kuebler added seven to lead the North.