It all came down to the fifth and final set, and the Orange Lutheran girls volleyball team had a bit more in reserve than Newport Harbor.
The Lancers withstood a late run by the visiting Sailors in the fifth set, taking the nonleague match 22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 20-25, 15-12, on Tuesday night.
“I thought at times, they (Newport Harbor) gave us a lot of trouble,” Orange Lutheran coach Andrew Mabry said. “I thought the whole night, we rode the roller coaster a little bit, but when it came down to it, I thought we were better at the end of games, most of the night, and that was the difference for us.”
Brooke Bastien led the Lancers (11-4) with 20 kills. Kaylie Milton had 15 kills and 16 digs.
The Lancers’ resolve was on display in the third set. They allowed the first six points, forcing Mabry to call a timeout. Once they settled back into the match, things started coming relative easily, and they eventually took the lead for good at 9-8 on a kill from Milton.
“That was a huge turning point in the match, “Mabry said. “I thought our girls did a nice job responding. We didn’t start very well, but we did a nice job closing that out.
“I think we’re done a real nice job in September. We’re not done yet. We’ve played a lot of matches and I think we’re improving and getting ready for what’s going to be a tough October.”
Newport Harbor (6-10) rallied from a 10-6 deficit early in the fourth set and evened the match at 2-2 on a kill from Remy Wilson.
The Sailors were coming off of a decent run at the Durango Fall Classic, posting a 4-3 record.
“I thought we played pretty well the first game, but we let them back into it a little bit,” Newport Harbor coach Dan Glenn said. “They’re a good team and they’re going to dig a lot of balls, but we made some unforced errors.
“I feel like we’re doing some good things and we’re getting better, but we’re having trouble finishing and that’s something we need to get better at. We have it within us, we have to learn to close.”
Wilson led the Sailors with 25 kills. Jaclyn Brown added 13 and Amanda Walker had 10.
In a nonleague match:
No. 1 Santa Margarita 3, No. 2 Huntington Beach 0: The Eagles (9-0) swept the visiting Oilers (10-4), 26-24, 25-21, 25-21.
Meghan McClure had 15 kills and 12 digs, Haley Carmo added nine kills and Devon Chang added 39 assists.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
