Boys’ Volleyball: Pender lifts Tars to upset
As a 14-year-old last year, Cole Pender went to a couple of the Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball matches at home and a couple on the road. The contest that he remembers the most was the final one for the Sailors.
Pender wasn’t on the team, he was an eighth-grader, but he was there when the Sailors lost a devastating five-set Sunset League playoff match to Edison at Huntington Beach. The winner qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, the loser did not. The setback ended Newport Harbor’s 28-year run of making the postseason.
Pender is now a Sailor, and in his freshman season, he’s doing whatever it takes to prevent last year from happening again. With three league matches left, the outside hitter has Newport Harbor all alone in second place.
Pender led the way Tuesday during the host Sailors’ 25-9, 21-25, 29-27, 25-19 upset of Los Alamitos, ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll. Pender finished with 25 kills, ensuring the Sailors’ first win against a ranked opponent and the result created space between them and the Griffins.
The Sailors, who improved to 5-2 in league, are half a match ahead of 4-2 Los Alamitos. They stayed ahead despite not having the services of outside hitter Grady Kimme, only one of two seniors on the team. Newport Harbor Coach Rocky Ciarelli said Kimme sat out after he suffered a concussion during Monday’s practice, forcing Ciarelli to go with a different lineup.
“It’s something that we had never done before,” said Ciarelli, who moved senior Collin Schlesinger from opposite to outside, and sophomore Scott Schweitzer from outside to opposite. “We’ve done it a little bit in practice, but Collin has basically been on the right side the whole time. It was a different thing.
“Scott came in and did a good job. He passed, which was what we needed more than anything.”
A hot start also benefited the Sailors, who matched last season’s league and overall win totals. Newport Harbor, which is 10-11 overall, scored the first six points in the opening set, half of them on kills by Pender. After Los Alamitos scored its first point, Newport Harbor went on a 9-0 run and ran away with the set.
Los Alamitos, which swept the Sailors last month, looked out of sorts, striking the ball long and wide. It was an usual start for the Griffins (21-5 overall), whose four other losses have come against No. 1 Huntington Beach, No. 3 Corona del Mar, No. 6 Dana Hills and Redondo Union.
“I think in that first set they kind of underestimated us because they [beat us] previously and they thought they could just beat us easily,” Schweitzer said. “I think we kind of shocked them when we like got up [15-1], and we just kept building and building.”
The only set Newport Harbor dropped was the second, and it was tight for the most part. Landon Monroe evened things at 17-17 on an ace, but opposite Teddy Howard closed things out for Los Alamitos with one of his 11 kills.
The third set ran the longest, it was even a dozen times. Los Alamitos, at set point, missed a chance to take a 2-1 lead. Cole Thompson’s kill gave the Griffins a 24-21 lead, but the Sailors called a timeout. When play resumed, Schlesinger, who finished with 10 kills, sparked Newport Harbor. He recorded two of his team’s three consecutive kills, the other was by Pender, and Newport Harbor tied it up at 24-24.
A Howard kill gave the Griffins their fourth set point situation, and the visiting team still failed to seal the deal in the third set. Schlesinger had a kill and Spencer Lawrence blocked a shot, and the Sailors were one point away from stealing the third set. Pender finished things with back-to-back kills.
Pender, who’s 6-foot-3, produced early and late in the fourth set. Consecutive aces by Pender put the Sailors ahead, 9-5. The Griffins stayed within reach, tying the set for the 10th time on a kill by Howard. At 19-19, Pender hammered away, collecting the next five points, four on blasts and one on a stuff. The next block belonged to Lawrence, lifting the Sailors to their fourth straight victory.
“We’re sitting in second now and that’s huge,” said Pender, who hopes Kimme can return in time for the Sailors’ final three league matches, the first at defending league champion Huntington Beach (27-0, 6-0 in league) next Tuesday. “I [felt like I had to] lead the team a little more because [Kimme is a] senior and he was out. I felt like me stepping in and leading the team really boosts all of our confidence.”