Newbury Park Sends Message

NEWBURY PARK — Nothing like making a royal statement early in the season.

With a strong, steady offensive attack, Newbury Park High downed Simi Valley, 15-4, 15-5, 15-5, in a Marmonte League boys’ volleyball match and, just as important, sent a message to Royal, which has owned the league for several years.

If the Panthers play the way they did Friday night, the match against Royal in two weeks could be, at the very least, interesting.

“If we play this well against Royal, we’re probably going to win,” said Newbury Park outside hitter Robert Congelliere, who committed to Brigham Young earlier this week. “We’re going to have to keep it up, but this is a good confidence booster. It’s been our goal ever since we were freshmen to beat Royal. We’re building toward that.”

Newbury Park (2-1, 2-0 in league play) kept a lid on Oliver Bell, a talented 6-foot-4 transfer from Germany who is getting attention from many colleges.

Bell showed phenomenal defensive skills, but had seven kills and five hitting errors for Simi Valley (2-1, 0-1).

“There’s no way you can beat teams as individuals . . . we’ve got to get over that,” Bell said.

Congelliere had six kills and five aces before he gave way to backups early in the third game.

Newbury Park outside hitter Collin McKeown delivered 10 kills.

Both teams played shorthanded in the middle.

Simi Valley starter Tim Kirkpatrick sprained his left ankle earlier in the day during a basketball game and showed up for the team bus on crutches.

“Losing Tim tonight hurt, especially with no time to prepare for it,” Simi Valley Coach Erik Peterson said. “Our timing was off in the middle.”

Kirkpatrick was replaced by senior Ian Boys, a 6-6 basketball player who began practicing with the team last week and had not played competitively since his freshman year at Buena High.

Newbury Park had a little more time to adjust to the loss of 6-6 middle blocker Mike Meru, who opted not to play for the Panthers right before the season began.

The teams meet again Wednesday at Simi Valley and on March 27 at Newbury Park.

“Whoever won here had a needed advantage going against Royal,” Newbury Park Coach Craig Witmer said.