Newport Harbor boys’ volleyball sweeps Loyola, earns rematch against CdM

Ethan Talley and the Newport Harbor High boys’ volleyball team threw a block party Thursday night.

The 6-foot-7 Talley, a team co-captain, wears No. 18 for the Sailors. He must have seemed 18 feet tall for visiting Los Angeles Loyola, which struggled to get the ball past him in the CIF Southern California Regional Division I semifinals.

The Ohio State-bound senior middle blocker had a team-high 10 kills, five block assists and two solo blocks as the No. 2-seeded Sailors won easily. They swept the No. 3 Cubs 25-16, 25-21, 25-16 to book a spot in the SoCal Regional Division I final.

The opponent there will certainly be familiar. Newport Harbor (34-1) will play at rival Corona del Mar (33-4) on Saturday at 6 p.m. for the regional title. The No. 1 Sea Kings swept No. 4 Palisades in the other semifinal.

The final match of the season will be a rematch of last weekend’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 title match. CdM repeated as Division 1 champion, winning in five sets to hand the Sailors, ranked No. 1 in the country most of the season by MaxPreps.com, their first loss.

“I feel like it’s just a great opportunity for us,” said Talley, who also had his team’s only two service aces against Loyola. “Losing on Saturday, it was devastating for all of us. This new opportunity to come back and be [regional] champions is just incredible. I think all of us realize that. We’re going to prepare every second of the day and make sure we’re ready for this match.

“Honestly, I think the title doesn’t matter. I don’t care what they call this match. For us, right now, it’s about getting in there, getting revenge and showing them that we are the best team in the nation. I personally believe that we all work hard, put in more work than any other team and we are the best team in the nation. I have every bit of confidence in my guys that we’re going to go out there and get it done on Saturday night.”

The Sailors certainly got it done against Loyola (25-4). It was the first meeting of the season with the Cubs, but there was also a revenge factor in this match, as Loyola beat Newport Harbor last year in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.

“We were looking forward to this, there’s no doubt,” Sailors coach Rocky Ciarelli said. “Our block was very big. They did a good job of knowing their hitters and being in the right spot.”

Senior co-captain Cole Pender had eight kills for the Sailors, while junior Dayne Chalmers had six and junior Jack Higgs totaled four kills. Junior libero Ryan Schroeder had a team-best seven digs, and junior setter Joe Karlous had 34 assists.

After easily winning the first set, the Sailors ran into some adversity in the second. Henry Wedbush had a kill and a block as the visitors scored six unanswered points, taking a 10-7 lead and prompting Ciarelli to burn his first timeout of the match.

The Sailors led just 22-21 later in the set, but got a kill by Higgs, a Loyola hitting error and a block from Pender and Caden Garrido to take the set.

“We made some plays that we weren’t really thinking, but then our block kind of got us out of that,” Ciarelli said. “We blocked some balls, got going again and slowed them down. That was good.

“Yes, we were a little shaky in the middle of that game. It happens. Young kids, you know? Old coach. [It can] cause problems.”

The Sailors were never challenged in set three, taking a 15-5 lead and cruising to the sweep. The match ended on a kill from Pender.

Luke Turner, a sophomore, led Loyola with 10 kills.

[email protected]

Twitter: @mjszabo