Tars back in state final

NEWPORT BEACH — On a desk near the Newport Harbor High volleyball court, Coach Dan Glenn went over a sheet of paper on Thursday.

The information was fresh, Glenn having written it earlier in the day. He tried to make the most of the data before sharing it with his girls’ team.

A couple of days before playing in the CIF State Division I championship match, one sheet is all he collected on the Sailors’ next opponent.

“I’m finding out more and more,” Glenn said before reading out last names like Bozzo, one of Salinas’ big outside hitters.

The names are as unfamiliar to Glenn as the school from Monterey County. When the Sailors (32-6) step on the Bren Events Center court at UC Irvine to face Salinas (29-4) tonight at 7, they will be playing strangers.

“The hard thing is you’ve had the other teams [you play] scouted, filmed and all that,” Glenn said. “Then you play somebody blind.”

In his 24 years at Newport Harbor, Glenn’s been in this spot. This is his seventh state final appearance, first since 1999, when the Sailors won their second straight title.

The Sailors have claimed the crown four times in the program’s history, each under Glenn. The fifth looks promising.

Glenn isn’t too worried about the Cowboys, the Northern California Regional champions. His players aren’t nervous. They didn’t have to mull over the championship match during a six-hour drive to Irvine.

When the Sailors upset Dos Pueblos of Goleta in the Southern California Regional final and advanced to the state final, their confidence grew.

Playing a team for the first time shouldn’t be an issue. In the past couple of years, the Sailors met elite programs they never saw before and prevailed.

The group has competed in Chicago and Las Vegas, cities playing host to the Mother McAuley and Durango tournaments, the biggest in the country. Newport Harbor fared well, placing seventh in Chicago last year and second in Las Vegas this year.

“This group is pretty good at adjusting,” said Glenn, who appreciates that about the Sailors until it takes them the opening game to figure out the opposition. “I don’t necessarily like [starting out slow], but that’s kind of the personality of the team.

“You definitely don’t want to give away a game, especially in the state finals.”

The Sailors don’t want to give Salinas, which is making its first state title appearance, any hope. The CIF Central Coast Division I champions have won 17 straight matches.

Newport Harbor has found itself in a hole at the start of two title matches during the playoffs. In the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA final against Los Alamitos on Nov. 21 and the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I final against Dos Pueblos on Tuesday, the Sailors lost Game 1.

Each time Newport Harbor responded, winning the next two games, before beating the Griffins in four and the Chargers in five.

The winner of the section and regional finals usually goes on to take state in the top division. The section champion has won five of the last six state titles and the regional champion has won six straight. Things seem to favor the Sailors.

Glenn might have everything he knows about Salinas on the sheet on his desk, but he’s the first to tell you volleyball isn’t played on paper.