Valley / Ventura County Sports : THE HIGH SCHOOLS

Forget the beaches at Santa Monica and Venice.

Hanauma Bay and Waimea Bay were just fine for the Harvard-Westlake and Buena girls’ volleyball teams, which recently returned from the Iolani tournament in Honolulu.

They were there for volleyball first and foremost, but that didn’t stop them from sightseeing.

The highlight for Harvard-Westlake, which finished seventh in the 20-team tournament, was cliff-jumping at Waimea. One at a time, the players followed Karalyn Kuchenbecker off the 30-foot cliff into the water.

“It was insane,” Coach Jess Quiroz of Harvard-Westlake said.

Buena didn’t fare as well in the tournament, getting knocked into the consolation bracket on the first day. The Bulldogs rallied, however, to win the consolation championship.

They visited a few landmarks, including Pearl Harbor and the U.S. battleship Missouri.

“I wanted to throw some educational things in there because it was a school trip,” Coach Jack Richards of Buena said. “It wasn’t just lay out on the beach and look at the boys.”