Sailors sweep, set up showdown

Chris Yemma

The double-headed kill attack of the Newport Harbor High girls

volleyball team was in full effect Thursday afternoon at Newport

Harbor.

Led by senior captain Kiley Hall on one side and sophomore Coco

Yokoyama on the other, the Sailors swept Laguna Hills, 25-17, 25-10,

25-14, in a Sea View League match to improve their league record to a

perfect 4-0, and 7-6 overall.

Coming off a four-game win over Irvine on Tuesday, when Hall and

Yokoyama combined for 11 kills each, Newport Harbor proved to be no

match for the Hawks (10-7, 1-3 in league), ranked No. 10 in CIF

Southern Section Division II-A.

After the match Tuesday against Irvine, Sailor Coach Dan Glenn

said the cause of the one lost game was too many unforced errors by

his young Sailor squad. And coming into the match on Thursday, he

said his team had been practicing well all season, but wasn’t quite

able to transfer that to the game.

Thursday, the Sailors finally made the transfer.

“I didn’t expect it to go this way,” Glenn said. “Except for too

many missed serves in the beginning, we did everything else really

well.”

With the score tied, 7-7, in the first game, and the two teams

still trying to figure each other out, Yokoyama smashed the ball over

the net, sending a Hawk player sprawling across the court trying to

get it.

She did the same thing later in the first game to put the Sailors

up, 22-16. Newport didn’t look back after that, completely dominating

the next two games to make it a quick, efficient day.

“We’re a young team and we’re still learning,” Glenn said, who is

in his 19th year coaching Newport Harbor volleyball.

“We have a tough schedule and we lost a lot of seniors, but we

have also evolved a lot. And we’re still looking for something that

works.”

With a 4-0 record in league play, it appears Newport has found

something that works -- solid blocking up front by 5-foot-10

Stephanie Trinen, 6-0 Taryn Tarnutzer, 6-0 Bryana Carey and 6-1

Jessica Robson, along with the outside play of Hall and Yokoyama --

the assassins.

“We have a bigger lineup this year,” Glenn said. “But it’s not a

blocking [team]. Maybe as we improve [our blocking] that will help

us, though.”

Only a sophomore, Yokoyama (10 kills) was brought up to the

varsity level last season as a freshman so she could see how the

seniors played, and learn from them what it takes to be a leader,

Glenn said.

This season, she is gradually adjusting, shifting and trying to

work her way into a leadership/team captain role that she will

definitely have as a senior. But Glenn said he is hoping she can

start reaching that role near the end of this season.

Present-day captain Hall (four kills) is in that role right now.

“I try to lead through example and by being talkative with my

teammates,” Hall said. “On the court, I help to call out hitters and

off, if the girls have questions, I answer them.

“We’re all really close and we all help each other.”

Hall added that Yokoyama continues to improve and that she could

definitely be a team captain sooner rather than later.

But even though Glenn has two standout players, he said the team

does not live and die by them. He said they are not a one- or

two-person, superstar-oriented bunch -- they all work together and

feed off each other.

The Sailors face their biggest match of the year on Tuesday at

Woodbridge, ranked No. 5 in CIF Division II-A.

Glenn said he thinks whoever wins this match could have the inside

track on the Sea View League championship, but he hasn’t analyzed the

Warriors’ team as he might have in the past.

“I know they have really good players, but I’m just taking care of

my players right now,” he said. “The more I coach, the less I scout.”