Spring Sports Roundup

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Weston Barnes goes for the ball in last Friday’s match with Newport Harbor. Also on the court, from left, Austin Hillemann, Grifan Fair, Maxx McCarter.

Boys Volleyball (1-1)

Breakers stumbled last Friday night in their home opener as Newport Harbor swept the varsity 25-18, 27-25, 25-21 at Dugger Gym.  Laguna hit well for the match (.440) but gave up too any service errors (18) and overpasses to hand free points to the winners. Austin Hillemann led Laguna’s attack with 13 kills, a solo block, and an ace while Weston Barnes added 13 kills, an ace and a block assist. Jackson Pries added five kills, Noah Blanton three and Jack Winn two.  Winn dished out 19 assists and Grif Fair had 18. Breakers led 18-16 in the second set but could not close out the win. In set three, the game was tied at 17 but again the passing errors sank Laguna’s effort.

 

The match marked former Laguna assistant Steve Astor’s debut as head coach for the Sailors, replacing Dan Glenn who stepped down as Newport’s mentor after 25 seasons.  Tar’s now lead the all-time best-of-five set series 22-11 including the last five in the annual match.

 

Laguna plays this weekend at the 26th annual Foothill Tournament and are seeded first overall in the 32-team tournament.

 

Breakers JV edged Newport Harbor  last Friday while the frosh soph team avenged their Friday match loss to the Sailors by beating them on Saturday  at the Newport tournament. Breakers lost in the playoffs to a strong Corona del Mar squad.

 

Recommendations to change the Southern Section playoff groupings for all sports for the next two-year cycle will be released on March 9. Leagues can appeal their assignments and the final 2012-14 plan will decided by the Southern Section on April 25. The grouping affects all sports except track/cross country which have pure enrollment based playoffs.

 

Baseball (2-1)

The 74th season of Laguna baseball stumbled out of the gate last Thursday in the opening round of the Newport Elks tournament, dropping a 4-3 contest at Orange. Breakers stranded too many runners in scoring position and seemed nervous in coach Mike Bair’s first game. Laguna only had six hits and made three costly errors in the contest. Robbie McInerny , Grant Wilhelm and Preston Grand Pre had the only extra base hits.

 

On Saturday at home, Breakers clobbered a good Nogales team 10-1 as Grant Wilhelm gave up two hits in five innings of work with Santi Pierini in relief. Nine different Laguna players had hits as the Nobles suffered a six run meltdown in the third inning.

 

This past Tuesday, Laguna clinched their Newport Elks pool with an 8-2 win over division 1 Corona Centennial  (2-1)  at the Huskies diamond in Corona. Junior Kurt Rebone pitched the complete game for the Breaker win, striking out 5. Laguna had 14 hits in the contest led by Robbie Mcinerny’s three for four day including the team’s first home-run. Adam Rodner also had three hits while Blake Hester had two.

 

Laguna hosted Segerstrom in the Costa Mesa division semifinals this past Wednesday with Westminster playing at Estancia in the other semi. Finals and third place games will be Friday, March 9. Last year Laguna defeated Segerstrom in the semi’s before taking the title with an 8-0 victory over Nogales.

 

League play opens next Friday, March 16, with league favorite Estancia invading Skipper Carrillo Field for a 3:15 game.

 

Boys Golf (1-2, 1-0)

Laguna defeated Costa Mesa 220-234 at Aliso Creek on Monday, March 5. Laguna is competing this year in the four-team Orange Coast League after competing in the Golden West League the past four seasons. Estancia appears to be the team to beat for league honors. Breakers will see the Eagles three times in conference play with the first meeting scheduled for March 13.

 

Boys Tennis (0-2)

Breakers dropped a 14-4 match at Newport Harbor on March 1 and 15-3 at home to defending D-5 champion Arlington on Friday, March 2, on the local courts. Breakers were at Corona del Mar this past Wednesday and host San Clemente on Friday, March 9. Don Davis who coached the girls this past fall takes over this season for Peter Davidson as Laguna’s 18th coach since 1935.  Breakers were 14-8 last season losing in the D-4 finals.

 

 

Photos by Robert Campbell.

 


 

 

 

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