Dana Hills feeling good after beating Newport Harbor

Bryce Yould was reunited with his Dana Hills teammates and the result felt good for the Dolphins.

Yould, a junior, missed the Dana Hills' first-round match in the CIF-SS playoffs with an ankle injury.

Thursday against Newport Harbor, he was back in the lineup, helping the Dolphins to the 21-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19 home victory in a second-round Division 1 match.

The Dolphins (30-4) will face Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach in the quarterfinals Saturday.

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OCVarsity Hot Shots: Thursday's playoff games

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“It was good to have him back,” Christian Hessenauer said. “He's a beast.”

Yould suffered the injury in practice last week.

“I came down on it and partially tore two ligaments in my foot,” Yould said. “I was going to physical therapy every day. The doctors said I wouldn't walk for a week. When it happened, I couldn't see a bone in my foot, it was purple.”

Yould's comeback got off to a slow start as the Dolphins dropped the first game.

“We weren't playing well together,” Hessenauer said. “We weren't disciplined. We were just playing like 12-year-olds.”

The Dolphins regrouped to take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the fourth set, with the score tied at 16-16, Dana Hills scored five consecutive points to take control of the game and eventually ended the match.

Hessenauer led the Dolphins with 24 kills.

“We have them next to each other and they really are a tandem,” Dana Hills coach Oz Simmons said of the Hessenauer-Yould combination. “The better Christian is playing, it opens up Bryce, and the better Bryce is hitting, it opens up Christian.”

Dana Hills also got 10 kills from Doug Hamann and six from Zach Schwaner.

Kevin Rakestraw led Newport Harbor with 16 kills. Clay Carr and Chris Sheppard had 15 and 11, respectively.

Also in Division 1:

Esperanza 3, Thousand Oaks 0: Jake Arnitz led the host Aztecs (25-3) with 11 kills in the 25-21, 25-19, 25-19 victory.

John Oxnard and Darren Sorrell had nine kills apiece. Andrew Benz and Jake Johnson had six. Blake Auerbach had 35 assists and Johnson had 22 digs.

The Aztecs will be host to Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals.

Servite 3, Dos Pueblos 0: The Friars booked their spot in the quarterfinals with a 25-19, 25-13, 25-17 sweep of the host Chargers.

Madison Hayden led Servite with nine kills. Sam Hunt and Kyle Palmer had seven and six, respectively.

Servite will host San Clemenete Saturday.