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Top teams prepare for tougher tests
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Boys volleyball notes: Newport Habor, Los Alamitos can't take next challenges lightly.
It took maybe an hour for Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos to complete first-round sweeps at home. The two top-six CIF teams earned first-round breathers after finishing one and two in what is considered the county's and southern section's toughest league: the Sunset.
Their second hour in the second round might not be as comfortable.
Newport Harbor today visits a Tesoro team that went on the road and rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Harvard-Westlake. Los Alamitos plays at Huntington Beach, which traveled to Mater Dei and outlasted the Monarchs in five games.
Tesoro and Huntington Beach still are underdogs, but they might have an advantage other than playing at home.
“I think so,” Los Alamitos coach Dave Huber said. “They won in five. They definitely have a little more sense of urgency. They've been in that situation: win or go home. We haven't really had to face that yet. They're dangerous.”
And there are several of them out there. In Division II, Laguna Hills took out an El Dorado team that had lost just once all season. In Division I, Fountain Valley, an at-large entry, beat Royal, the Marmonte League champion that also lost one game in the regular season.
The Barons play host to Orange Lutheran, which surprised many by beating Foothill, a county top-10 mainstay all season.
“At this point, everyone's good,” Huber said. “The way I look at it, there aren't going to be too many so-called upsets.”
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Contact the writer: amaya@ocregister.com
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