Newport Harbor girls’ volleyball wins playoff opener behind service-line success
Talea Berry had few words to describe the performance she had for Newport Harbor in its girls’ volleyball playoff opener, but it was her game that did most of the talking on Tuesday night.
The junior setter had a dozen service aces in a 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 win for the Sailors to kick off the CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs at home.
“Talea’s done that the whole year,” Newport Harbor coach Andrew Mabry said. “I mean, not 12 aces, but she’s one of our point leaders from the service line. She does it every day in practice. She continually works on it, and serving is one of those skills where you’re kind of in full control of the process, so if you find your rhythm, it can be pretty good. She was great tonight.”
Berry finished the night at the service line, where she delivered six consecutive aces leading up to a match-clinching kill by Kayden Clousing off of an overpass.
Newport Harbor (20-8) finished third in the Sunset League, behind co-champions Huntington Beach and Los Alamitos. The Oilers and Griffins were among the eight teams selected to compete in the Division 1 playoffs.
“We just didn’t want to end on that, so we just kept grinding,” said Berry, who added 32 assists in the contest.
The Sailors made quick work of Yorba Linda (22-10), which shared the Freeway League title with Cypress. Ball control and passing helped feed the pin hitters. Sophomore outside hitter Ella Olson had a match-best 16 kills and nine digs, and freshman outside hitter Piper Coady pounded out 10 kills to go with eight digs.
Coady echoed Berry’s sentiments, seemingly indicating that the Sailors have drawn motivation for the postseason from falling short in their league championship aspirations.
“I think it’s kind of helped our team push even harder because now it’s like a single-elimination [bracket],” Coady said. “This could be the end of our season, and with all the seniors, we just want to keep pushing a bunch. I know that our league maybe didn’t go the way we wanted, but we still have great teams in that league, and we’re pushing forward.”
Senior middle blocker Sadie Henderson had six kills for Newport Harbor. Sophomore middle blocker Campbell Kelly had four kills and four aces, and senior opposite Jordan Surber contributed four kills. Sophomore libero Emery Nichols chipped in with six digs.
Senior outside hitter Casey Cho had 13 kills and four block assists to lead Yorba Linda. Junior setter Sophia Jones dished out 11 assists to go with three kills, and sophomore middle blocker Gabriela Bupte added three block assists.
Newport Harbor, which travels to take on Palos Verdes (20-8) in the second round on Saturday, had seen limited action in recent weeks. The Sailors had a late bye in the seven-team Sunset League.
“Every time we’ve played an opponent twice, we’ve played pretty well the second time and found a way to kind of build,” said Mabry, noting the Sailors’ season-opening five-set win at Yorba Linda. “We finished the last two weeks only playing one match, so what we’ve been able to do is have a bunch of good practices in a row and kind of gear up and get ready for this week. I feel like you kind of saw that preparation pay off tonight.”
Also in the CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball playoffs:
Redondo Union 3, Huntington Beach 1: The third-seeded Oilers dropped the match 20-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-19 on Wednesday in a pool-play opener of the Division 1 playoffs at home.
Huntington Beach will host Los Alamitos on Tuesday in a continuation of Pool B competition. The Griffins were swept by second-seeded Mater Dei on Wednesday.
The Oilers are scheduled to complete pool play on Saturday, Nov. 2 at Mater Dei.
Top-seeded Chatsworth Sierra Canyon headlines Pool A, which also includes Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, Los Angeles Marymount and Temecula Valley.
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