Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball stars shine in comeback win at CdM
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Newport Harbor’s challenges have extended beyond those coming from the other side of the net this season, injuries turning the starting lineup into a game of musical chairs.
College-bound pin hitters Ella Olson and Piper Coady were game-time decisions Monday, and their availability was vital in the Sailors’ eventual rally against their crosstown rival.
A full complement of hitters gave Newport Harbor the firepower it needed to squash a slow start, as the Sailors beat host Corona del Mar 16-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 in the Battle of the Bay girls’ volleyball match.
“We’ve had a lot of adversity with injuries so far this season, so being all together and all out there — minus Kinsley [Labonty], our setter — it felt really great,” said Olson, who shed a bandage she had been wearing around her left wrist during the Dave Mohs tournament on Sept. 5. “We’ve missed Pipe out there. She adds great vibes, so we were lucky to have her out there.”
Coady, an outside hitter committed to Indiana, had 16 kills, four service aces and two block assists. The Texas-bound Olson added 15 kills and two aces.
Both have taken turns playing libero while nursing injuries, as Newport Harbor (16-4, 4-1 in the Sunset League) has looked to utilize the passing portion of their all-court games. Labonty, after claiming MVP honors in the Tesoro Tournament, was lost for the season due to a ligament tear in her foot, Newport Harbor coach Pat Eaton said.
The Sailors received key contributions elsewhere, the presence of Pepperdine commit Morgan Starkenburg in the middle providing a matchup nightmare. She had 15 kills without a hitting error, three solo blocks, and three block assists.
“It was good for us tonight to kind of grow up,” Eaton said after his team battled back from dropping the first set. “I think we dug our feet in the sand. I think earlier in the year, some of those times, we kind of packed it up and made the job a little harder on ourselves, but made a couple adjustments on defense. [Libero] Natalie Wells got better as the match went [on], she did a really good job, and then when we needed them most, Ella was huge for us, but Morgan was great tonight.”
Corona del Mar coach Max Gamboa made no qualms regarding Starkenburg’s impact on the match, saying she was “really impressive.”
“The paramount reason we need to get them out of system is because they’re going to set Morgan when they’re in system,” Gamboa said. “If they’re setting Morgan, we’re just hoping she hits it to us. There’s not many girls in the league that can get hands in front of Morgan. She’s just so athletic, she moves around well, and she attacks the ball with tenacity.”
Avery Hansen, a sophomore pressed into setting duties for the Sailors, dished out 45 assists. Vladimira Kotzakov added five kills and two block assists, and Wells, in part, provided the passing to keep the offense running smoothly.
Corona del Mar (17-5, 3-2) welcomed sophomore setter Isabella Spinella, a transfer from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, into its lineup. She made quite a first impression with a match-high seven aces to go with her 35 assists.
Sofia Dajnowiec led the Sea Kings’ attack with 20 kills and two aces. Savannah Dennis contributed a dozen kills and two block assists, and Cooper Piercey produced eight kills. Freshman Sarah Rosing (four aces) and sophomore Kyleigh Jen combined for six aces in limited action off the bench.
“We knew they were resting some girls throughout the year, but this isn’t the game where you rest people,” Gamboa said. “I knew banged up or not, their girls were going to be in full force and ready to go. We came out on fire. We came out serving the ball tough. We were finding our serving targets.
“We were playing well on defense. We were finding our shots offensively, and I can say even through the second set — I think we were up 18-14 in the second set. I think we just ran out of a little bit of steam. I think stamina and being there late in games with good teams is something we’ve been trying to work on in practice, get our strength and conditioning up, but until you’re in that game, it’s tough to feel it.”
Entering the week, the Back Bay rivals were each one game off the pace of Sunset League-leading Los Alamitos (16-2, 5-0).
“The league is so good this year,” Eaton said. “There’s so much parity, and if we’re going to get back around this thing to the second half and give ourselves a chance to win, then we’ve got to be good in these games, and we were just good enough tonight.”
The Sailors’ lone league loss came to the Griffins, while the first of two league contests for CdM against Los Alamitos was scheduled for Wednesday. Huntington Beach (15-5, 3-2) is tied for third in the league.
“[Eaton] has made it clear that we need to get these league wins if we want that title,” Starkenburg said. “I think we just have a pattern of maybe coming out a little slow, maybe not with that confidence that’s so important. We just got to wait for it to click, and I’m hoping that in Vegas, when we play those high-level teams … [at the Durango Fall Classic this weekend], that’ll help us back at home.”
