Girls volleyball: Sea Kings survive

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - The expression on Coach Steve Conti’s face

following Thursday’s Pacific Coast League girls volleyball match with

University didn’t exactly show joy after his Corona del Mar High squad

pulled out a win.

The Sea Kings were victorious against a feisty Trojans’ squad, 15-13,

5-15, 15-3, 10-15, 15-9, but the lapses of less-than-stellar play was

concerning for Conti.

“I guess I’m glad we won, but we’re just making too many mistakes out

there,” Conti said. “We’re about as up and down as a merry-go-round.

We’ve got to get some consistency throughout the entire match or it’s

going to bite us in the butt.”

Senior Lindsey Anstandig led the Sea Kings (6-2, 4-0 in league) with

22 kills and five ace serves. Senior Sara Deming added 11 kills, while

junior Katie Duggan added 10.

“It was nice to see other players step up, but it was only part of the

time,” Conti said. “We could have gotten burned big time tonight, but

fortunately, we were able to pull it out.”

The Trojan with the hottest torch was Melissa Zapiain, who had 19

kills and nine blocks. Kristan Cunningham had 15 kills and seven blocks,

while Libby Brant came through with six blocks.

“They have some athletes over there,” Conti said. “Melissa is one of

the better players we’ve seen all season.”

Sometimes the turning point of a match comes earlier than expected.

CdM, ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division III-AA, trailed,

13-7, in the opening game before an 8-0 turned the momentum back into

CdM’s corner. Strong play from Deming, Eleanor Mack and Katie Duggan was

the difference for Corona del Mar.

University (4-6, 2-2) regrouped in Game 2 and jumped out to a

commanding 11-3 lead and cruised from there.

“We’ve had two, five-game matches where we’ve been blown out in some

of the games,” Conti said, referring to Laguna Beach’s 15-3 win in Game 1

of their match. “That just can’t happen if we want to be successful.”

The Sea Kings regrouped and took command of Game 3, jumping out to a

10-2 lead and never looked back.

It looked similar in Game 4 as CdM led, 8-2. But a 13-2 run, including

seven points in one service stretch, enabled University to tie the match.

Again, the Sea Kings took a sizable lead early in Game 5 before the

Trojans clawed back to within a point at 9-8.

From there, CdM scored five straight points with strong play from

Anstandig, Duggan and setter Jacqueline Becker, who paced the offense

with 47 assists.

Following a University point, CdM closed out the match when a Trojans’

return went wide.