Tars come all the way back

Rick Devereux

President Richard Nixon once said, “You’ve got to learn to survive a

defeat. That’s when you build character.”

The Newport Harbor High girls volleyball team developed enough

character in the first three games of its Sea View League opener

against Foothill to pull out an improbable 20-25, 21-25, 29-27,

25-21,15-13 come-from-behind road victory.

Newport Harbor (4-6), the defending Sea View League champion,

started sloppily against the Knights (4-5).

“We should have lost,” Coach Dan Glenn said. “I’ve had teams that

should have won, but lost. This is the opposite.”

Foothill, inspired by a raucous student section, raced to a 6-1

opening-game lead with the help of Sailor serving error and quick

sets to middle blocker Jackie Wood.

The Tars got as close as 13-12, but another service error,

followed by consecutive aces by Foothill, extended the lead again.

Newport fought back from a 24-16 hole with four straight points, but

Foothill closed it out to take early command.

The Tars relied on outside hitter and captain Kiley Hall to take a

15-8 lead in the second game. Hall, who finished with a team-high 15

kills, was the go-to hitter all night for freshman setter Alesha

Young.

“[Hall is] a three-year starter,” Glenn said. “She’s a special

player.”

Newport was unable to hold onto the lead, however, and allowed

nine straight points to give the Knights a two-point advantage. The

Sailors committed six errors and allowed two aces in that span. Only

Wood’s quick kill to start the point barrage was earned. Newport’s

ninth service error in the first two games gave Foothill the 25-21

victory.

The Knights had scoring runs of three, six and three to take a

20-14 lead in the third game, making a sweep look inevitable.

But Newport Harbor battled back.

Hall had three kills and a block, senior opposite hitter Taryn

Tarnutzer had a block, kill and ace, and junior middle blocker Bryana

Carey had a block and a kill to tie the game, 27-27. Sophomore Coco

Yokoyama aced her serve and the Knights committed an error to give

the Tars the 29-27 win.

“They outplayed us in the first three games,” Glenn said. “We

missed a ton of serves. If there was ever a match that we should have

lost, it was this one.”

It looked as if Foothill would put the match away quickly in the

fourth game, taking an 8-2 lead. But two Knight errors and a

Tarnutzer quick back set gave the Sailors new life at 8-5.

The Knights pushed the lead to 17-10 on a quick set to Wood and

unforced Newport errors. The situation turned desperate for the

Sailors, down, 20-14, but kills by Carey on a quick set and a

Foothill overpass preceded a Knight error that prompted a Foothill

timeout to stop the momentum.

The mighty mo’ continued to roll for the Sailors, though, as

Newport Harbor tied the game at 20 when Foothill was called for a

lift, then committed a hitting error. Tarnutzer followed with an ace.

A Foothill kill gave the Knights a 21-20 lead, but a quick set to

Carey, followed by a Carey block, gave the lead right back to

Newport.

An extremely long rally with crowd-pleasing digs off massive hits

by both squads ended on a Foothill hitting error.

Another Knight hitting error, followed by a Hall kill, gave

Newport Harbor a 25-21 win to force a fifth game.

“It’s three-out-five,” said Foothill Coach Mike Bowen, who lost

three starters to disciplinary transfer after they violated district

rules at an August tournament in Hawaii. “I give all the credit in

the world to Newport Harbor. They played hard to bounce back and

force it to five games.”

Like the previous games, the fifth was back-and-forth from the

beginning. Foothill took a 12-8 lead on five consecutive serves from

Christiana Molina.

Following a Newport timeout, the Sailors roared back with five

straight points of their own for a 13-12 lead. A Newport Harbor net

violation tied the game, but kills by Tarnutzer and Carey finished

the match.

“I told them at the timeout the same thing I told them after games

3 and 4,” Glenn said. “And that was ‘If we eliminate our mistakes, we

should be able to win.’ It feels good to win a close one. We lost to

Laguna Beach in five games [Sept. 30], so this is nice to be on the

opposite end of that.”