Barry Faulkner
Newport Harbor High and Corona del Mar are seeded No. 1 and No. 3,
respectively, in their divisions for the CIF Southern Section girls
volleyball playoffs, the pairings for which were released Sunday at
the section office.
Coach Dan Glenn's Sailors (22-6), champions of the Sea View League
for the ninth time in 10 seasons, will open play in Division II-AA
Thursday at 7 p.m. at home against the winner of Tuesday's wild-card
match between Norco (11-5) and Sultana (12-3).
Coach Bill Christiansen's Sea Kings (17-8), champions of the
Pacific Coast League for the third time in four years, host either
Northview (8-7) or Azusa (8-8) in Thursday's Division III-A first
round.
Costa Mesa (13-2), which won the Golden West League to claim the
program's first league title, returns to the playoffs for the first
time since 1998. Coach Allison Salladin's Mustangs will host the
winner of Tuesday's wild-card match between Desert Hot Springs (10-5)
and Tesoro (16-7).
Newport Harbor and CdM are each competing for their seventh
Southern Section title. The Sailors have been to 10 section finals,
while the Sea Kings have been to 12.
The Sailors, who lost to Mira Costa in the Division II-AA title
match last fall, are paced by 6-foot-3 senior middle blocker Kristin
McClune. A first-team All-CIF Division II performer as a junior,
McClune pounded a match-high 33 kills to lead the visiting Sailors to
a 5-15, 15-9, 6-15, 15-13, 17-15 nonleague victory over Back Bay
rival CdM Friday night. Alyson Jennings, a 5-8 junior, is another
standout for the Tars.
If victorious Thursday, the Sailors would face either La Mirada,
the runner-up in the Suburban League, or Cathedral City, the No. 2
representative from the Desert Valley League, in Saturday's
quarterfinals.
The Division II-AA semifinals are scheduled Nov. 19, with No.
4-seeded El Dorado, which tied for second in the Century League, a
possible foe.
Westlake (19-3) is the No. 2 seed and Woodbridge (13-12), which
the Sailors handled in Sea View competition, is seeded No. 3. Title
matches in all divisions will be either Nov. 22 or 23 at Cypress
College.
Corona del Mar, which went 10-0 in the PCL, would likely face
unbeaten Santa Ynez. the champion of the Los Padres League, in
Saturday's Division III-A quarterfinals.
With two playoff victories, CdM would likely meet Harvard-Westlake
(20-4), the No. 2 seed and the champion of the Mission League, in the
Nov. 19 semifinals. The Wolverines, defending III-A champions, have
