James Eadie had an award-winning senior year with the Newport Harbor boys volleyball team.

Eadie was named Surf League player of the year and the CIF Southern Section Division 1 player of the year.

Add to that Orange County boys volleyball player of the year.

Eadie, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker, did it all for the Sailors, who went 26-5 and won the CIF-SS Division 1 championship and the CIF SoCal Regional Division I championship.

He had 266 kills with a hitting percentage of .520. Eadie totaled 50 blocks, nine solo and 92 assisted, with 16 service aces and 22 digs. He was at his best in the CIF-SS Division 1 and CIF SoCal Division I regional finals, getting 20 kills on a .620 hitting percentage with six blocks and two aces.

Newport Harbor, seeded third in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, beat top-seeded Loyola in the championship match and beat Loyola the next week in the regional final.

Eadie said the disappointment of losing to Mira Costa in the 2021 CIF-SS Division 1 final made the Sailors determined to win the title this season.

“We were hungrier than any other team,” said Eadie, who will play college volleyball at Pepperdine. “We were definitely more mature than we were last year.”

The Sailors still needed to be reminded that reduced effort or lack of focus could fell them. On April 5 they lost a nonleague match to Los Alamitos in five sets.

“That was a big reality check,” Eadie said. “We learned then that we couldn’t just show up and win.”

Newport Harbor would not lose again. They Sailors defeated Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach to finish Surf League play 6-0. After a first-round bye in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, they beat Los Alamitos in five sets, swept Mira Costa in the semifinals to avenge last year’s finals loss and beat Loyola in five sets in the final round for Newport Harbor’s fifth CIF-SS boys volleyball championship.

In the following week’s CIF SoCal Division I regional playoffs, Newport Harbor swept Servite in the first round, beat Beckman in five sets in the semifinals and swept Loyola in the finals.

Newport Harbor coach Eric Vallely said Eadie was a foundation of the team’s success.

“James is an incredibly mature and coachable player,” Vallely said. “He’s a natural leader and he’s really good at holding his teammates to a high standard. I have huge admiration for what he brought to the team.”

Eadie said the sweep of Loyola in the regional final might have been the best the Sailors played all season. That match, though, is not what Eadie will forever cherish most from his senior season.

“All the friendships I made,” he said. “I’ve been playing with these kids since I was 12 years old. I’ll always have so many memories of playing with them.”

COACH OF THE YEAR

Eric Vallely, Newport Harbor

Newport Harbor’s boys volleyball team won just about everything that it could win this season.

The Sailors won the Surf League championship. They won the CIF-SS Division 1 championship. Seeded third in the elite 10-team group, Newport Harbor beat top-seeded Loyola in the finals.

In the CIF SoCal Regional Division I playoffs, Newport Harbor beat Servite and Beckman before sweeping Loyola in the finals.

MaxPreps.com named Newport Harbor national boys volleyball champion.

Newport Harbor’s Eric Vallely is the Orange County boys basketball coach of the year for the 2022 season. (Photo by Willie Reichenstein)

For piloting the Sailors through such a great season Newport Harbor’s Eric Vallely is the Orange County boys volleyball coach of the year.

The Sailors were undefeated in the Surf League, went 26-5 overall and concluded the season with eight straight wins, including the victories in the CIF-SS and regional finals.

Vallely, 46, completed his third season as Newport Harbor’s coach. He played basketball and volleyball at Newport Harbor, played on national championship volleyball teams at UCLA, and was a Bruins assistant coach.

He spread the credit for this season’s Newport Harbor success to the assistant coaches and players.

“I was fortunate to have great help from the coaching staff,” Vallely said. “You can plan all you want but at the end of the day you’ve got to have the players who can execute it. And it wasn’t just one or two guys but all of them who did that.”

ALL-COUNTY BOYS VOLLEYBALL TEAMS

FIRST TEAM

Zach Berty, Mater Dei, Sr.

Kaumana Carreira, Tesoro, Jr.

Luca Curci, Newport Harbor, Jr.

James Eadie, Newport Harbor, Sr.

Ryan Graves, Beckman, Jr.

Noah Huang, Beckman, Jr.

Jake Read, Newport Harbor, Jr.

Noah Roberts, Los Alamitos, Sr.

Cole Schobel, Mater Dei, Jr.

SECOND TEAM

Sterling Foley, Corona del Mar, So.

Jack Graves, Beckman, Jr.

Eli Lee, Beckman, Sr.

Jack Morikawa, Servite, Sr.

Liam Phinizy, Huntington Beach, Jr.

Andrew Rowan, JSerra, Sr.

Jeffrey Sowa, Mater Dei, Sr.

Reed Wainwright, St. Margaret’s, So.

Kevin Windisch, Servite, Sr.

THIRD TEAM

Tyler Howard, Canyon, Jr.

Riggs Guy, Newport Harbor, So.

Noah Lee, Beckman, Jr.

Sean McCarthy, Newport Harbor, Sr.

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