SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Newport Harbor Fired Up for Corona del Mar--Again

CERRITOS — As hard as most coaches say it is to defeat a team three times in one season, Newport Harbor’s Dan Glenn swears the Sailors won’t suffer a letdown when they meet Sea View League rival Corona del Mar for the Division I Southern Section girls’ volleyball championship tonight at Cerritos College.

“We could play them 100 times in a row and we’d be fired up,” Glenn said. “When you have two teams like this, right down the road from each other, it’s not a problem.”

Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar, rated the top two teams in the nation this week by USA Today, will face off at the end a marathon day of volleyball, in which six Orange County teams will vie for section titles in four divisions.

In Division VI at 9:30 a.m., second-seeded St. Margaret’s, which lost in the 1992 quarterfinals when it was top-seeded, plays top-seeded Cambria Coast Union. The Tartans (18-3) are led by senior outside hitters Emily Hallenbeck and Monica Girard.

In another intra-league rivalry, Olympic League champion and second-seeded Calvary Chapel (17-1) will meet league runner-up Cerritos Valley Christian, a team the Eagles dominated twice in league play, for the Division V title at 11:30 a.m. Courtney Owens and Sara Roberts lead Calvary Chapel.

The Division II match at 6:15 p.m. features Los Alamitos (22-1) and Fountain Valley (18-2), both of which are making their first appearance in a section championship. Last season, Fountain Valley lost in the quarterfinals to finalist Sunny Hills and Los Alamitos was turned back by eventual champion Bishop Montgomery. Kristin Moro and Gina Ybarra lead the Barons attack and Stacy Laitsch and Maria Bowden pace the Griffins.

In the much-hyped showdown between defending section and State champion Corona del Mar (23-2) and Newport Harbor (21-2) at 8:15 p.m., the Sailors, Division I semifinalists last year but the 1992 State victors in Division III, have a 2-0 edge in previous league meetings.

Among the players to watch are outside hitter Misty May and middle blocker Melissa Schutz for the Sailors, and Kim Coleman and Jennifer Stroffe for the Sea Kings.