TEAMWORK: Santa Margarita defenders Alexis Reis, left, and Andrius Streit team up to send Jeff Kerchner's spike back at him during Friday night's volleyball doubleheader at the Bren Center. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
Battle at the Bren: Santa Margarita penalized; Newport Harbor wins
|
The Eagles forfeit 28 victories but won't have to miss the playoffs.
IRVINE-The “Battle at the Bren” originally featured four boys volleyball teams that went undefeated in league, none of them having lost a non-tournament match since March.
Santa Margarita was dismissed from that club before taking the court for Friday night's doubleheader.
The Eagles on Wednesday forfeited 28 victories because of an ineligible player, a transfer from the East Coast who arrived at Santa Margarita at the beginning of the semester and appeared in the team's first 33 matches.
“Unfortunately, (because of) an oversight, his paperwork was not transmitted to CIF,” Santa Margarita principal Ray Dunne said.
“When we discovered this, we self-reported to CIF and he was immediately given eligibility.”
The Eagles will not miss the playoffs, however.
Under CIF rules, league officials determine their playoff representatives. Santa Margarita appealed to the other Trinity League principals, who voted unanimously Friday to allow Santa Margarita to be the league's No. 1 seed, Dunne said.
“Lots of times in these situations, (for) leagues this is blood in the water for sharks,” Dunne said.
“We work very hard in the Trinity League to be very cooperative with each other. These principals knew we were honest. We self-reported, and they didn't want to punish the kids.”
Dunne said the school noticed its error Monday as it prepared the necessary CIF playoff entry forms. The player was ruled eligible Thursday morning, but the school was denied an appeal to CIF to have its victories count, Dunne said.
EAGLES WIN THEIR MATCH
Santa Margarita beat Woodbridge, 18-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-18, in their regular-season finale at Bren Center. (Click here for more game stats)
“Game 1 was how we played at the beginning of the year,” Eagles coach Jeff Uhrig said. “Games 2, 3 and 4 show how we've progressed.”
The change for the Eagles (2-33) began with ball control. Libero Michael McMahon and outside hitters Andrew Pavlovich and Alex Reis directed most the match's tempo and frustrated the Warriors (16-9).
“When we play a team that passes well, we're in trouble,” Woodbridge coach Donnie Rafter said.
Reis led Santa Margarita with 14 kills and Tanner Jansen had 13. Blake Mills had 13 kills for Woodbridge.
NEWPORT HARBOR TRIUMPHS
No. 1 Newport Harbor concluded the event with a 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 victory against Corona del Mar. (Click here for more game stats)
Newport Harbor coach Dan Glenn said his team, which has not lost since mid-March and won the Sunset League title, has bought into the “one-game-at-a-time” cliché.
“This group does a good job focusing on the next match,” Glenn said.
Corona del Mar coach Steve Conti said he noticed some jitters early from his team that never went away.
Tucker Peleuses had 18 kills, Andrew Kaban had 12 digs, and Kyle Caldwell had 35 assists, nine kills and two aces for Newport Harbor (27-3). Jeff Carlson had 11 kills for Corona del Mar (23-7).
>> See scores for all Friday games
>> Read more in Boys Volleyball
Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com
We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.
