Ross Leads North Girls to Victory

The North squad, led by Newport Harbor senior April Ross, prevailed over the Corona del Mar-led South squad, 25-13, 24-26, 15-8, in the 24th Dave Mohs Memorial girls’ volleyball all-star match Friday night at Edison High.

In the boys’ game, Corona del Mar’s Kevin Hansen earned Most Valuable Player honors as his South squad defeated the North, 25-20, 25-23, 10-15.

Ross had a match-high 13 kills and was named Most Valuable Player of the girls’ match.

“This was a lot of fun to be a part of,” said Ross, who will attend USC next year. “The finalization pretty much hit after the state tournament, but this was a nice way to really wrap it up.”

Ross’ teammate, Duke-bound Krista Dill, wrapped up a couple of sports Friday. After throwing the discus for the Sailors’ track and field squad at the CIF state preliminaries, Dill arrived just before game time.

Corona del Mar’s Dimitra Havriluk, who will attend West Virginia, led the South with six kills.

The North jumped out to a 17-6 edge and under the rally-scoring format, that was more than enough to take Game 1.

In Game 2, trailing, 24-21, the South used a combination of strong play and some unforced errors to even the match. Ross had six kills in Game 3. The North jumped out to a 10-3 lead and held on from there.

Hansen, the boys’ MVP who will attend Stanford next year, was pleased with his team’s efforts.

“We had some good chemistry out there, despite only practicing one time together. It was kind of hard getting up for playing against your buddies.”

On the North squad, Newport Harbor’s Billy Clayton and Kent Turner each turned in solid efforts.

Clayton, who’s also heading for Stanford in the fall, had a team-high 10 kills in the match.

Turner, who will attend USC next year, walked away from his prep career undecided on his athletic future.

“Hey, if it ended today, I had a blast,” Turner said. “I might try to walk on at USC, but I’m just not sure yet.”