Breakers rounding into form

Orange Coast League champion Laguna Beach moved a step closer to a perfect league girls' volleyball season Tuesday by sweeping host Costa Mesa, 25-16, 25-8, 25-11.

The Breakers, ranked third in CIF Southern Section Division 1-A, won their seventh straight league title and qualified for the CIF playoffs for the 38th straight year. Alyse Wallace-Ford had 14 kills and seven digs, Avery Bush finished with eight kills and five digs and Allison Palmer 18 assists and seven digs as the Breakers ran their league record to 9-0 and overall mark to 19-6.

Laguna also picked up an OCL victory on Oct. 21 with another sweep, this time, 25-9, 25-9, 25-8, over visiting Godinez. Marina Paul had 11 kills and Sevana Dvorak and Rachele Killian added 13 and 11 assists, respectively.

In a nonleague match Monday, the Breakers took down Mira Costa, the sixth-ranked team in Division 1-AA, 27-25, 19-25, 25-19, 25-17. Wallace-Ford turned in 26 kills and 13 digs, Paul had 10 kills and 15 digs, Caroline Holte 13 digs, Dvorak 10 digs, Julia Goggin nine digs and Palmer 27 assists and 13 digs.

"I thought we played hard the whole time," Laguna Coach Lance Stewart said of the Mira Costa match. "We served well in the games we won and even served well in the one (game) we lost. It was a good win for us."

The annual girls' volleyball alumni match is at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Dugger Gym. The frosh/soph team will take on the junior varsity team at 5:30 p.m.

On Thursday, Laguna plays at Edison, the No. 2-ranked team in Division 1-AA. The Breakers defeated the Chargers in the Queen Court Tournament in Anaheim in late-August, just before the start of the regular season.

"We're looking forward to the challenge," Stewart said. "It's good for us to be playing really good competition before heading into the (CIF) playoffs. We played Mira Costa late in the season and we play Edison late. We're excited for the opportunity."

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Cross-Country

The Laguna boys' and girls' teams ran last Saturday (Oct. 22) at the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut. Below are the times turned in by the Breakers: