Newport Harbor Sails Through Match Against Mira Costa

It seemed appropriate that Newport Harbor’s road to an unprecedented third consecutive major division championship would have to go through Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.

And Saturday, the top-seeded Sailors blew past the Mustangs, winners of nine section titles, posting a 15-4, 15-8, 15-9 victory to win the Southern Section Division I-AA girls’ volleyball championship Saturday at Cypress College.

It was the sixth section title for Newport Harbor, the fourth in the past six years.

Newport Harbor senior April Ross, a starter for the last three Division I-AA champions, had 21 kills and 16 digs to lead the way again.

Ross notched her eighth kill for a side out to get the Sailors their third match point at 14-9 in Game 3, then she knocked one off the block to start the celebration.

“This never gets old,” said Ross, a 6-foot-1 senior who has committed to USC.

Newport Harbor (22-1) dominated Saturday’s match from start to finish, getting balanced hitting, solid setting and consistent passing.

“We’ve played well in spurts this season,” Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn said. “But for three full games, that’s as well as we’ve played. Tonight, we passed really well, Katie King played a great match and we only had one hitting error out of the middle all night.”

Middle blockers Krista Dill (five blocks) and Heather Cullen (three blocks) each had 13 kills and sophomore setter King finished with 50 assists for Newport Harbor.

Brenda Waterman chipped in with six kills and 13 digs on a night when everything seemed to go right for Newport Harbor.

Whether it was Dill tipping the ball left-handed for a point or Brenda Waterman rolling the ball into and over the top of the net or Ross blasting away from the back row, the Sailors could do no wrong.

Mira Costa has appeared in 15 section finals, but it hasn’t been able to get past Newport Harbor lately.

Newport Harbor defeated Capistrano Valley to win last season, but the Sailors defeated Mira Costa to win the 1994 and ’97 Division I-AA championships.

“We knew we had to serve tough against them,” Mira Costa Coach DaeLea Aldrich said. “That’s one way to keep the ball away from April, but we didn’t do that.

“We’ve played much better, but Newport Harbor really played well tonight.”

Mira Costa had 10 hitting errors and five service errors in the first game and the Mustangs (23-3) never seemed to recover. “There have been times this season where we’ve let up,” Glenn said. “I knew we couldn’t do that against them, and tonight we didn’t let up.”

Newport Harbor is peaking at the right time with the state tournament beginning Tuesday. Newport Harbor is the defending Division I champion.

“This team has been stepping up in the big matches all year,” Glenn said. “But I think our best volleyball is still ahead of us.”