The Sailors (31-6) did serve tough and it’s pretty hard to stop them right now, too. The CIF Southern Section Division I-AA champions won their ninth straight match and advance to play at top-seeded Dos Pueblos in the CIF State Division I Southern California Regional final Tuesday night.
Dos Pueblos topped Clovis West in three games, 25-12, 25-19, 25-20, in another semifinal Saturday.
Newport Harbor certainly started out on fire Saturday. The first point was an ace from senior libero Kelly Heenan, who served five more and suddenly the hosts were up, 6-0.
Huntington Beach rallied, as the Oilers (19-13) had much of the postseason in posting upset wins over Marymount, Santa Barbara and La Costa Canyon. But after the Oilers pulled within 17-15, a kill by sophomore Alex Holbrook was followed by two straight service aces from senior Mackenzi Campbell, giving Newport Harbor some wiggle room.
Newport then took an 8-2 lead in Game 2 on another ace from senior middle blocker Katey Thompson, who finished with a match-high 14 kills. Senior Kirby Burnham had 12 kills, and junior Maddy Brown and Holbrook had eight kills each.
With such powerful weapons on Newport’s side, the runs come often. They did in Game 3, too, when an 8-6 lead suddenly became a 15-8 advantage.
“We’re pretty good when we have a lot of momentum and we keep going,” Burnham said. “When the other team has momentum and we have to side out, that’s one thing we’ve been working on. I think we’ve done a lot better job siding out quickly and not letting teams get lots of points.”
Sophomore setter Cinnamon Sary dished out 41 assists for the Tars, and Heenan had a match-high 15 digs.
