Girls’ Volleyball: Breakers sweep Barons
The Laguna Beach girls’ volleyball team is no stranger to the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
The Breakers are in the postseason for the 13th straight year. During that same stretch, Fountain Valley has only qualified for the postseason twice, this year and three years ago.
The Barons’ latest playoff appearance was short lived. Laguna Beach swept the Division 2 first-round match, 25-16, 25-13, 25-11, at home on Friday.
The Breakers (15-11) advanced to the second round to play at No. 2-seeded El Dorado (24-6) on Thursday. The Golden Hawks had a first-round bye.
Laguna Beach reached the second round for the 13th time in row. A year ago, the Breakers went as far as the Division 2AA semifinals, before running into top-seeded Sun Valley Village Christian, which went on to win the title.
This time around, the Breakers meet one of the section favorites early. They’re also going to do it with a new coach in charge.
Matt Malone said he has taken over the program for Carson Tanner, who stepped down a week and a half ago. Tanner was not around last week for the completion of the Breakers’ 11th undefeated Orange Coast League title in as many years.
Malone has been at the helm for three contests, winning two of them. The most important victory sets the Breakers up with a date with North Hills League champion El Dorado.
“I’m just happy that we’re in CIF,” Malone said. “I’ve been the head coach for like nine days.
“[School officials] just wanted to make a coaching change. It’s not too hard [taking over] because I was the assistant coach [under Tanner], but the little things that a head coach does that I didn’t know about, that’s been a tough adjustment. Everyone has been really great. I got a lot of supportive families and players.”
The home crowd got behind Laguna Beach right after Aleya Post gave the Breakers their first lead early in Game 1.
Post, who finished with 10 kills, blocked a shot, starting a 9-2 run. Chloe Edep and Hallie Carballo each recorded a service ace, and Lexi McKeown (10 kills) and Callista Wulff (nine kills) both produced a kill, helping Laguna Beach take a commanding 12-5 lead.
The advantage grew to as high as 11, but the Barons cut the deficit to 23-16 on consecutive blocks. Rilyn Todd turned away a shot, and then Jenna Everson and Phoebe Minch teamed up for a block. The Breakers called a timeout, and when play resumed, they closed things out, scoring the final two points.
The next two sets were a lot easier for Laguna Beach. There was a stretch where Wulff served 10 straight times, the first two were aces, allowing the Breakers to go up, 23-11.
Phoebe Minch led Fountain Valley (12-12) with eight kills, and Erin Finley had six kills. The Barons, the fourth-place team from the always-tough Sunset League, reached the playoffs as an at-large team under first-year coach Becca Turose.
“It’s not really about them knowing the game and executing things, it’s about [them] knowing that they can execute when it’s a high-pressure situation, like when you have to play in the playoffs,” Turose said. “I really commend them for taking on a lot of the challenges that I’ve been throwing at them.”
