Limon Leads Sailors Past Santa Margarita

Newport Harbor, the top-ranked boys’ volleyball team in Orange County, shook off some spring-break rustiness and soundly defeated third-ranked Santa Margarita, 15-9, 15-12, 15-6, in a Sea View League match Tuesday at Santa Margarita High.

Al Limon had 25 kills and 15 digs and Matt Jameson had 16 kills and 17 digs for Newport Harbor, which played without starting opposite Zach Wells. Wells is in South America for two weeks while playing soccer with one of the U.S. junior national teams.

“Tonight, when everyone else was off,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said, “Al Limon wasn’t. He was simply the best player on the court tonight and that was the difference.”

Limon had 12 kills in the second game when Newport Harbor rallied from a 10-5 deficit to win the game by scoring 10 of the final 12 points.

In the third game, Limon had three kills to help the Sailors win five points on Jameson’s serve to break a 6-6 tie. Newport Harbor (7-0, 3-0 in league) closed out the match scoring nine consecutive points.

It was the second consecutive loss for Santa Margarita (4-3, 1-2), which lost in three games to fifth-ranked Corona del Mar on April 1.

Three weeks ago, Santa Margarita won the Orange County Championships tournament, defeating Newport Harbor in the final. But Tuesday, the Eagles didn’t look like the same team.

Dan Mora had nine kills and 15 digs and Blake Robinson had eight kills for the Eagles, who never got in sync.

“We need to out-play these teams defensively to beat them and we haven’t done that,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “You can want it all you want, but you have to execute. Hopefully, we’ll learn something from this.”

In other Sea View League matches:

No. 5 Corona del Mar 3, No. 10 Irvine 1--Morgan Jackson had 12 kills for host Corona del Mar (5-2, 2-1) in a 15-2, 15-8, 16-14 victory. Irvine is 1-2 in league.

El Toro 3, Woodbridge 0--Kyle Martin had 14 kills and Justin Burden had 20 assists for host El Toro (5-3, 2-1), which won 15-8, 15-5, 15-8.

In the Academy League:

St. Margaret’s 3, Orangewood Academy 1--Jesse Clanton had 24 kills for host St. Margaret’s (7-3, 2-0), in a 17-19, 15-12, 15-12, 15-11 victory.