Boys volleyball: CdM sweeps past El Toro

Joseph Boo

LAKE FOREST - Watch out. Corona del Mar High’s boys volleyball team

easily disposed of El Toro, 15-8, 15-4, 15-12, in Friday’s CIF Southern

Section Division I quarterfinal match. Considering CdM was the only

Division I team not to go five games Friday, the Sea Kings are looking

good at just the right time.

Greenpeace should be offended by how thoroughly CdM, the No. 3 seed,

deforested El Toro, which boasts 11 six-footers on its squad. The Sea

Kings chopped down Division I’s No. 6 team in 90 minutes, two hours less

than last year’s epic playoff match.

“Both of El Toro’s losses this year came when either (Jim Pelzel) or

(Kyle Martin) didn’t play,” CdM Coach Steve Conti said. “They haven’t

really lost with their best six players on the floor, so to come in and

sweep them is huge.”

The Sea Kings (20-1) will host Santa Margarita, an upset winner over No.

2 seed Irvine. CdM, the only seeded team left in the Division I playoffs,

defeated the Eagles twice this year, although Santa Margarita have been

rejuvenated since coming back from two games down against Royal in the

second round.

“Everybody’s healthy, and we’re heading the right way,” Conti said.

“We’re happy with where we are right now, and we’re fired up to be able

to play for the finals. Right now, it doesn’t matter who we play. We’re

just going to play our game.”

CdM’s game Friday was startlingly efficient. Four Sea Kings had

double-digit kills, and Brian Gallagher and Kevin Hansen almost reached

that mark with nine each. Hansen distributed 39 assists to his teammates.

CdM senior Greg Stampley, who will attempt to walk on at USC next year,

led CdM with 34 kills. Alec Hanson, Charlie Alshuler and Forrest Mack

contributed 16 kills each.

“They have a couple of tall players,” Stampley said, “and we just tried

to hit the ball before they got set.”

With CdM converting kills at an alarming rate, El Toro (14-3) could never

get itself together. Other than the UC-Irvine bound Pelzel, who had 19

kills, the Chargers could not get a consistent production from the rest

of the team.

“They’re a big physical team, so we just wanted to serve it tough,” Conti

said. “We really played well in the second game, and we were timing their

blocks pretty well.”

The second game was where one could hear El Toro deflate. After the

Chargers took a 2-1 lead, CdM scored 13 straight points.

CdM used the block as an effective weapon in that game. Alshuler got a

rousing block against Pelzel to make the score 9-2. On the next point,

Mack and Hansen combined for another rejection. Two points later, those

two cooperated again to stuff Martin, visibly frustrating him and his

teammate.

In the third game, El Toro led until the score was 10-9. CdM then took a

12-10 lead on three El Toro errors en route to a 15-12 victory.