For the Beckman boys volleyball team, it is never too late to record a signature victory.
The Patriots struck out this season in their quest to knock off perennial Pacific League champion Corona del Mar.
But when they took aim at third-seeded Newport Harbor in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, the Patriots didn’t miss. Beckman defeated the Sailors, 18-25, 25-23, 26-24, 21-25, 15-6, on Thursday night.
“Definitely, No. 1 this season, for sure,” Beckman coach Darin McBain said of the importance of Thursday’s victory. “We haven’t stepped up and beaten a team that was supposed to beat us. We’ve always fallen just a little bit short, so to step up and do it at this time was unbelievable.”
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Beckman (31-5) will be home Saturday for the quarterfinals against Palos Verdes, which swept Foothill in a second-round match.
After Newport Harbor (22-8) stayed alive by taking the fourth set Thursday, Beckman shook off the setback and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth, forcing Newport Harbor to take a timeout. The Patriots increased their lead to 8-1 and were on their way to securing the upset.
“This is something that this team needed,” McBain said. “We know we’re good, we know we can beat anybody, but it was a matter of when were we going to do it and we finally did it.”
Spencer Olivier led the Patriots with 18 kills.
McBain pointed to the play of the team’s middles, Jack Mathews and Josh Keough, as a key to the victory. The duo combined for 20 kills.
“Getting them involved was our main key,” McBain said. “When we get our middles involved, we’re tough to beat.”
Cole Pender led Newport Harbor with 26 kills. Spencer Lawrence and Dayne Chalmers had 12 and 11, respectively.
“This is big,” senior setter Austin McBain said. “This is the farthest we’ve gone. This is senior year and I don’t want to lose. We don’t want to lose and we saw that opportunity and we took it today.”
Also in Division 1:
Corona del Mar 3, Redondo Union 0: Sam Kobrine and Will Hunter had 12 kills apiece to lead the visiting Sea Kings (25-5) to the 31-29, 25-27, 25-20 victory.
CdM will host fourth-seeded Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals on Saturday. It will be the first meeting between the teams since last year’s CIF-SS final.
Huntington Beach defeated Dana Hills, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, in the second round.
In Division 4:
Crean Lutheran 3, Bolsa Grande 0: The second-seeded Saints (24-2) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 25-17, 25-14, 25-7 victory.
Riley Evans had six blocks and Tanner Petchul had seven aces for Crean Lutheran.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com