Laguna looks to grow in tough tourney

The Laguna Beach High boys’ volleyball team is gearing up for a big weekend.

The Breakers are one of 32 teams competing at the Foothill Volleyball Classic, which starts Friday. The two-day event concludes with championship-round action. Matches will be played at Foothill, Tustin, Beckman and Canyon/Anaheim.

Laguna is the No. 1-seed in Pool 1, which also includes Beckman, Mission Viejo and St. Bernard. The other top pool seeds are Los Alamitos (Pool 2), Dana Hills (Pool 3), Orange Lutheran (Pool 4), Foothill (Pool 5), JSerra (Pool 6), Marina (Pool 7) and Laguna Hills (Pool 8).

The Breakers start pool play at 3 p.m. Friday against Mission Viejo. They’ll also play St. Bernard and Beckman later in the day.

Saturday’s action starts at 8 a.m.

“I am excited to participate in the Foothill Tournament, as it brings in teams from across Southern California,” Laguna first-year Coach Scott Panaro said. “Throughout the tournament, I hope our team continues to develop our identity and establish roles within the team dynamic. We have been working on improving our serving and passing. I am eager to see how we preform.”

The top 16 teams at the end of Friday’s pool-play action advance to a 16-team playoff Saturday.

In nonleague play March 2, Laguna was swept by visiting Newport Harbor, 25-18, 27-25, 25-21. Austin Hilleman and Weston Barnes both had 13 kills, JP Wollam had seven digs and Grifan Fair and Jack Winn combined for 37 set assists.

The setback left the Breakers at 1-1 overall. It was the season opener for the Sailors.

Next week, Laguna hosts San Clemente in a 6:30 p.m. nonleague match Wednesday.

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Boys’ Golf

The Breakers split two matches this week. On Monday, they picked up a 220-234 victory over Costa Mesa at Ben Brown’s Golf Course in Laguna Beach. Tim Peterson was match medalist at 38. On Tuesday, the Breakers dropped a 187-233 match to San Clemente at Aliso Viejo Country Club.

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Boys’ Tennis

A young Breakers squad that is mixing in new players on varsity dropped their first three nonleague matches of the season. They lost to Newport Harbor (14-4) on March 1, Arlington (15-3) on March 2 and fell, 16-2, at Corona del Mar on Wednesday. Teague Hamilton, No. 1 singles for Laguna, earned a 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 sweep against Newport Harbor.

Laguna is home Friday to San Clemente for a 3 p.m. nonleague match.

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Track and Field

Both the Laguna boys’ and girls’ teams opened their regular season Thursday against El Dorado. The scores weren’t available at press time. Both Breakers teams will compete Friday at the Irvine Invitational.

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Swimming

Both the Laguna boys’ and girls’ teams have been idle since winning their season openers Feb. 29 against Pacifica. Both squads are back in action at 3:15 p.m. Friday, hosting San Clemente. They also compete at 2 p.m. Saturday in a nonleague meet at Los Alamitos.

michael.sciacca@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeSciacca