Mater Dei

BOYS' LACROSSE Newport Harbor 6, Mater Dei 3 NEWPORT BEACH - Alex Opyd scored two goals, helping the Sailors to their fifth straight win in Saturday's nonleague game. Matt Porteous, Jake Turner, Brian Team and Kole Escher also scored for Newport Harbor (5-3). Ritter Hagadorn and Luke Toohey had two assists each, and Zac Vayda made nine saves and scooped up three ground balls. Jack Murrel led the defensive effort with seven ground balls, seven takeaways and two knockdowns.

Left tackle Sam Bush, who made the Cal-Hi Sports All-State Underclassmen first team for sophomores last football season, is transferring out of Newport Harbor High to Mater Dei, said Bush's father, Blaine, on Thursday. Blaine said his son's decision to leave Newport Harbor at the end of the school year and attend Mater Dei was based on his faith, the private school's curriculum and football program. He added the move was also a very difficult one for Bush, a 6-foot-5, 290-pounder, who earned Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Dream Team and second-second All-Sunset League honors last season, his first starting on varsity for the Sailors.

GIRLS' SOCCER Mater Dei 2, Corona del Mar 0 SANTA ANA - The visiting Sea Kings lost for the first time since Dec. 10 in the nonleague regular-season finale. CdM (20-2-2), the Pacific Coast League champion, rested standouts Maddie O'Connor (ankle) and Annie Alvarado (general soreness), Sea Kings Coach Bryan Middleton said. CIF Southern Section playoff pairings will be announced Monday.

SANTA ANA — The previous two matches for Corona del Mar High against Mater Dei this season have been short lived. Those two matches at the Orange County Championships in March weren’t supposed to go past three games due to the best-of-three format. The third meeting between these two boys’ volleyball teams lasted three games. Not exactly the way the Sea Kings wanted it to play out Tuesday night. Mater Dei swept CdM, 25-18, 25-20, 25-22, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs.

COSTA MESA - The Costa Mesa High girls volleyball team dropped a 15-6, 15-12, 15-13 nonleague match with visiting Mater Dei Tuesday. However, the Mustangs (4-5) played well enough to nearly steal the second and third games, according to Coach Jeff Culver. Mesa rallied from an 11-4 deficit to take a 13-12 lead in the third game and was deadlocked, 12-12, before falling in the second game against the Monarchs, ranked No. 2 in Orange County behind Newport Harbor.

Newport Harbor High's club surfing team had too much in every department Wednesday morning as Mater Dei fell to the unbeaten hosts, 85-41, as Newport came within five points of a complete sweep. Newport Harbor, now 7-0, went 1-2 in every event in ideal conditions with 3- to 4-foot waves at the 56th Street site. Geoff Rill, David Neira, Erica Hosseini and Will Anderson were heat winners in the short board, and teammates Morgan Hill, Brian Pearson, Alex Knost and Matt Doheny backed them up with seconds.

COSTA MESA - The Costa Mesa High boys tennis team lost, 15-3, to visiting Mater Dei Friday afternoon in nonleague action. The Mustangs (1-2) will play at Aliso Niguel Monday at 3:15 p.m. NONLEAGUE Mater Dei 15, Costa Mesa 3 Singles - Bernard (CM) lost to Van't Hof, 1-6, lost to Herrel, 4-6, def. Maguire, 7-5. Lilaram (CM) lost, 1-6, won, 6-4, lost 4-6; Solomon (CM), lost, 0-6, 3-6, 4-6. Doubles - Chindalah-Au (CM) lost to Desa-Nguyen, 1-6; lost to Plou-Pham, 0-6, lost to Miles-Brown, 1-6; H. Nguyen-Ayopian (CM)

Barry Faulkner COSTA MESA - Even in boys boys volleyball, Newport Harbor High Coach Dan Glenn said the following concepts apply: 1) Mater Dei holds mystique. 2) Defense wins championships. Glenn hopes the latter supersedes the latter when the top-seeded Sailors (13-7) clash with the No. 4-seeded Monarchs (24-7) tonight at 7 o'clock in a CIF Southern Section Division III semifinal at Costa Mesa High. "Defense is what wins in the playoffs, in any sport, and I thought we played our best defensive match of the year the other night," Glenn said of the Sailors' 15-5, 15-8, 15-9 quarterfinal triumph over Dos Pueblos.

Tony Altobelli COSTA MESA - One big inning and one gigantic inning did in the Costa Mesa High baseball team in Monday's 15-4 at-large loss in the Costa Mesa-Foothill Tournament to visiting Mater Dei. In a matchup of two undefeated teams, the Mustangs (6-1) hung tough with the Monarchs (7-0), ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division II before a nine-run sixth inning blew a 6-4 Mater Dei lead wide open. "I think they knew they were in a baseball game for five innings," Mesa Coach Kirk Bauermeister said.

Left tackle Sam Bush, who made the Cal-Hi Sports All-State Underclassmen first team for sophomores last football season, is transferring out of Newport Harbor High to Mater Dei, said Bush's father, Blaine, on Thursday. Blaine said his son's decision to leave Newport Harbor at the end of the school year and attend Mater Dei was based on his faith, the private school's curriculum and football program. He added the move was also a very difficult one for Bush, a 6-foot-5, 290-pounder, who earned Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Dream Team and second-second All-Sunset League honors last season, his first starting on varsity for the Sailors.

BOYS' LACROSSE Newport Harbor 6, Mater Dei 3 NEWPORT BEACH - Alex Opyd scored two goals, helping the Sailors to their fifth straight win in Saturday's nonleague game. Matt Porteous, Jake Turner, Brian Team and Kole Escher also scored for Newport Harbor (5-3). Ritter Hagadorn and Luke Toohey had two assists each, and Zac Vayda made nine saves and scooped up three ground balls. Jack Murrel led the defensive effort with seven ground balls, seven takeaways and two knockdowns.

The sailing teams from Newport Harbor High School and Corona del Mar High School traveled to San Francisco to sail in the fourth Pacific Coast Interscholastic Sailing Assn. Regatta of the school year, called the Golden Bear Regatta, on Feb. 25 and 26. This year the regatta was hosted by the UC Berkeley sailing team, rather than Stanford University, and was held off of Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. There were 29 teams in the Gold division and 30 teams in the Silver division.

GIRLS' SOCCER Mater Dei 2, Corona del Mar 0 SANTA ANA - The visiting Sea Kings lost for the first time since Dec. 10 in the nonleague regular-season finale. CdM (20-2-2), the Pacific Coast League champion, rested standouts Maddie O'Connor (ankle) and Annie Alvarado (general soreness), Sea Kings Coach Bryan Middleton said. CIF Southern Section playoff pairings will be announced Monday.

Cinnamon Sary found it hard to stand on her own two feet at the end of her final volleyball match on the Newport Harbor High court. The senior needed a hand to get up, yet no one was around at first to help her. The problem was practically everyone else in the gym rushed the court to celebrate an upset win of Mater Dei. The Sailors had just qualified for the CIF Southern Section Division I-AA girls' title match and the reason why laid smack...

NEWPORT BEACH - In his 26 years at Newport Harbor High, Coach Dan Glenn called this girls' volleyball season an up-and-down one. A standout starter quit for the first time under Glenn's watch. Key players dealt with knee and shoulder injuries. The Sailors finished third in the Sunset League for the first time under Glenn. Newport Harbor has moved past all of the setbacks. The Sailors are now in position to win their eighth CIF Southern Section title with Glenn at the helm.

SAN DIEGO - Progress was made toward the process. It's the best way Corona del Mar High Coach Marissa Booker summed up her girls' volleyball team's second-place showing Saturday at the California Challenge hosted by Torrey Pines at Alliant University. Corona del Mar, seeded sixth overall, fell in two games to eighth-seeded Mater Dei, 27-25, 32-30, in the championship match to finish the tournament 6-1. It helped the Sea Kings improve to 19-2 overall on the year. Both losses have come in tournament play.

Taylor King is on the move again, and this time he's going overseas. The former Mater Dei High School basketball standout has decided to skip his final year of college eligibility and play professionally in Germany, according to his last college coach, Ken Ammann of Concordia University. "He got some good offers and so he decided to go travel," Ammann said. "It's a good opportunity for him. I heard he got a deal in Germany and there were still more on the table. "I think he had to make a decision before school started and he decided to pursue that.

NEWPORT BEACH - Saturday afternoon marked Jon Walters' first time facing his former team in a high school game. Walters, now a junior at Mater Dei, transferred from Newport Harbor after his freshman year. He still has friends at Harbor. He and his sophomore brother, James, were on a 14-and-under club team with Sailors juniors Dan Stevens and Curtis Fink that won the Speedo Cup. In the water, it's a different matter for the Newport Beach resident. "Personal relationships don't mean anything in the game," said Jon Walters, who was declared ineligible his sophomore year by the CIF Southern Section after the transfer.

GIRLS' TENNIS Sage Hill 12, Mater Dei 6 NEWPORT BEACH — Junior Liana Korber swept at No. 1 singles in the Lightning's nonleague victory Wednesday at The Tennis Club Newport Beach. Seniors Katie Bick and Rian Billingsley also swept at No. 1 doubles for Sage, as did senior Casey Astorino and junior Lauren Hsu at No. 2 doubles. Junior Ava Soleimany took two of three at No. 3 singles and junior Kimberly Brown took one of three at No. 2 singles. The Lightning (2-0)