Breakers Win Tesoro Tournament
Girls Volleyball (7-0)
The 48th varsity season opened last Saturday with the Breakers taking on teams in the pre-season SSCIF D1/2 watch list in the Tesoro Varsity Tournament.
Competition started at 8 a.m. last Saturday with the Breakers sweeping Woodbridge 25-18, 25-14. In their second match, Laguna took Saddleback Valley Christian 25-14, 25-17 racking up 15 service aces. Alessandra Nitoglia did a nice job as setter dishing out 14 assists and scoring four of the aces. The final pool match was a 25-21, 25-21 win over a good El Toro squad as Piper Naess led Laguna with nine kills and 10 digs.
In the playoffs, Laguna opened with a 27-25, 25-22 win over JSerra as the Breakers rested Naess and played the entire roster.
The quarterfinals matched the Breakers against San Clemente, who had defeated Edison, La Habra and Northwood to face the Breakers. The Tritons held off the Breakers 26-24 in the first set that could have gone either way. Set two was tight until a long serving run by Cambria Hall gave Laguna a 17-14 and the Breakers held on to a 25-23 win. San Clemente jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set and led until the Breakers rallied behind the serving of Piper Naess to tie the contest at 12. With the score 14-13, Laguna won the third deciding set off a serving error.
On Monday, Laguna rallied to defeat Aliso Niguel 21-25, 25-21, 16-14 in the semifinals as top libero Halle Carballo returned to action for the season with 10 digs to help lift the Breakers.
In the finals, Laguna defeated Dana Hills 22-25, 25-13, 15-8 for their first in-season tournament title since capturing the Mohs Orange County in 2006. Breakers were cruising leading 13-7 at one point in set 1 before Dana closed out the set with an 11-4 run. Set two was all Laguna as Sophie Reavis teamed up with Luisa LoFranco and Kendall Fraser for five blocks to help the squad to a 15-4 lead ending in a 25-13 set score. The final set was never in doubt with the Breakers going 4-0 to start and were never threatened. Sophie Reavis was named tournament MVP on the strength of her Monday performance against Dana and Aliso (17 kills, 4.5 net blocks) while Luisa LoFranco was also honored for 3.5 net blocks and a .422 tournament hitting percentage with 22 kills on 45 attempts with only three hitting errors.
Team hit a strong .302 for the seven tournament matches with Cambria Hall leading in kills with 57 followed by Piper Naess with 52 and Sophie Reavis with 42. Soren Patchell led in aces with 11 and set-assists with 108. LoFranco was the top blocker, Piper Naess in serving with 36 rotation points and in digs.
Final rankings (top 16 of 24 teams) Tesoro Tournament: 1 – Laguna Beach, 2 – Dana Hills, 3 – Aliso Niguel, Bishop Montgomery, 5 – San Clemente, El Toro, Orange Lutheran, Beckman, 9 – Edison, JSerra, Esperanza, Tesoro, 13 – Rancho Christian, 14 – Woodbridge, 15 – Mission Viejo, Stckdale/Bakersfld,
Breakers really will be tested in full best-of-five set matches as they hosted Dana this past Wednesday, travel to San Clemente on Friday, Aug. 23, and then will host Aliso Niguel next Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Stats and scores are posted on the team’s Max Preps site. You can follow the team on Instagram: @lbhsvarsitygirlsvb.
Football
Breakers were favored in this season opening contest this week held in rural Maryland with a charter school from Baltimore. Quarterback Andrew Johnson returns after shattering the single season passing records last year and hopes to add the career records mid-way through this season. Laguna is off next week but will have their 85th season home opener on Sept. 6 at Guyer Field facing Big Bear.
Home Games – 7 p.m. kickoff @ Guyer Field (series history)
Fri Sep 6 Big Bear (0-2-0)
Fri Sep 27 Estancia (16-14-0)
Fri Oct 4 Marina (HC) (1-0-0)
Fri Oct 18 Godinez * (6-5-0)
Fri Oct 25 Western * (0-1-0)
*GWC – Pac 4 League Game
Cross Country
Regular fall practice began on Tuesday, Aug. 20, with the first event Saturday, Aug. 31, at Cerritos Regional Park.
Girls Golf
First match is next week on Tuesday, Aug. 27, with Crean Lutheran at Ben Brown’s.
Girls Tennis
Rick Conkey is optimistic regarding the 2019 season, feeling Breakers will be stronger than the 2018 squad that won the Sunset Wave title, their 14th consecutive league crown. Breakers lost in the D3 SSCIF Finals and will now compete in the D2 division this season.
Boys Sand Volleyball
Season begins in September.
Boys Water Polo
Season opens next week at Santa Margarita with Ethan Damato returning as head coach after a three-year absence at the helm. As head coach from 2008-2015, Damato’s teams went 173-17 with three SSCIF D3 titles. In the D1 ultra-competitive Sunset Surf League, Breakers hope to extend their 28-year string in making the playoffs. Newport Harbor is favored to repeat as the league champion with Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar hoping to reverse their results with the Breakers.
