Girls volleyball: Mistakes prove costly for Sea Kings

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar High’s girls volleyball coach Steve

Conti said recently that, despite the wins, the amount of mistakes his

team was making would come back and “bite us in the butt.”

On Wednesday night, it was visiting Laguna Beach that not only

lessened the Sea Kings’ backside, they squeezed into the top of the

Pacific Coast League standings following its 15-4, 12-15, 15-5, 15-12 win

over CdM.

“Once again, we made way, way, way too many mistakes out there,” Conti

said. “We gave a tough team like Laguna Beach way too many easy points.

We had opportunities, but it seemed like when we did, we gave them away.”

The loss for CdM (8-6, 5-1 in league) gives the Artists (9-5, 5-1) a

share of the PCL lead with four league matches remaining.

Senior outside hitters Sara Deming and Lindsay Anstandig each had 10

kills to lead the Sea Kings’ attack, while junior middle blocker Katie

Duggan chipped in with six.

Six-foot-one Sarah Salem led the Artists with 27 kills, while 6-foot

Brittany Wood added 11.

“A lot of credit has to go to Laguna Beach,” Conti said. “They really

played hard out there. They were sprawling for loose balls all the way to

the scorer’s table. They’re a scrappy bunch.”

Game 1 was an omen of things to come for the Sea Kings, ranked No. 3

in Division III-AA. Too many passing errors led to eight easy points for

the Artists, enabling them to jump out to a 10-3 lead. They cruised from

there to take Game 1.

Corona del Mar again fell behind early in Game 2, but managed to fight

back. Deming, Duggan and Anstandig used a wide variety of shots to even

the game at 8-8.

Following a 4-0 run by the Artists, ranked No. 1 in Division IV-AA,

junior setter Jacqueline Becker (46 assists) put together a strong

package of serves. She ripped two aces and forced Laguna Beach into

mistakes for a 13-12 Sea Kings’ lead.

A Kate Petry kill and an Anstandig ace later, CdM evened the match.

It was another bad start for the Sea Kings in Game 3, as Laguna Beach

jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead. The mistakes were too much to overcome as

the Artists’ lead continued to grow.

Trailing, 13-3, CdM put together a couple of points, but it wasn’t

enough as the Artists took a 2-1 lead in games.

This time, it was Laguna Beach with the mistakes as CdM jumped out to

an 8-3 lead in Game 4.

From there, Laguna Beach regrouped and fought its way back into the

game, thanks to the tall timbers of Wood and Salem.

Laguna Beach jumped out in front, 12-11, before Deming ended a long

rally with a kill to tie the score.

A kill from the Artists’ Al Harman and a CdM violation gave Laguna

Beach a 14-12 advantage, but the Sea Kings refused to go away.

With strong play from Anstandig and Deming, CdM turned away five match

points. Finally, Leanne Kubisak’s kill down the middle ended the match

and sent the visitors home happy.

“At 14-12, we missed two out of our three serves,” Conti said. “That

just can’t happen. We had our shots to even the match and we couldn’t

execute.”

CdM will play at San Clemente, ranked No. 2 in Division I-AA,

Saturday, at 4 p.m.