The vision of veterans

Bryce Alderton

The returning corps is there and if Bill Christiansen has his way,

the Corona del Mar High girls volleyball team will not only make

another visit to the CIF playoffs, but be ripe to return to

championship form.

“I anticipate going to the CIF [Southern Section Division III-A]

finals,” Christiansen said. “I’m excited about this season. We have

nine juniors and five seniors with real strong skills.”

CdM hasn’t been in a CIF final since 1997, when it claimed the

Division III-AA crown in five games over La Habra with Jordana

Havriluk and Audrey Anhood leading the charge.

The Sea Kings have fallen in a CIF semifinal every year since that

magical ’97 campaign, including a three-game loss to host

Harvard-Westlake a year ago.

But Christiansen is concentrating on more immediate concerns, like

Pacific Coast League foes. The Sea Kings rolled through the league a

year ago en route to going undefeated.

“The big hurdle early will be Northwood,” he said. “They are huge

and match us in height.”

The Sea Kings’ tallest player expected to be in the starting

lineup is senior Mackenzie Conover at 6-foot-2, but right behind her

are juniors Lindsey Ensign and Jordan Smith, both 6-foot.

Smith, a first-team all-league outside hitter, earned Daily Pilot

Dream Team honors a year ago while Ensign was the starting middle

blocker last year until she suffered a kidney infection, causing her

to miss CdM’s final two playoff matches.

“The two of them are mega stars,” Christiansen said.

CdM star outside hitter Claire Allen, named the PCL MVP and

first-team All-CIF Division III in her senior season, will enter her

freshman year at UC Irvine this fall while Lauren Loe and Alissa

Zoelle also graduated.

Both Ensign and Smith, along with returning juniors Britta Nielsen

and Breanne Ogden, a back row specialist, all competed for the Orange

County Blue, an under-16 club team which reached the final against

the Saddleback Valley George at the Volleyball Festival earlier in

the summer at UC Davis and surrounding sites. The tournament drew

teams from Hawaii, Arizona and Oregon in addition to one from Puerto

Rico.

“The girls had a lot of success there,” Christiansen said.

Also a part of the CdM attack will be senior setters Conover and

Ashley Bill. They give Christiansen much depth at the position.

“Either combination is real deadly with those two seniors,” he

said.

Senior returners include outside hitter Lauren Snell (5-9), along

with Victoria Rice (5-11) and Valery Westhart (5-8) to compliment

juniors Rylee Dennis (6-0), Traci Lawson (5-6), Shannon McMenomy and

Ashley Marks (5-8). Junior Erica Solis, a member of the junior

varsity team a year ago, could play either outside hitter or middle

blocker for Christiansen. Sophomore Alexine Rodenhuis (6-3) should

also provide an imposing net presence.

Solis saw some key playing time in the 20-team Ann Kang

Invitational in mid-August in Waikiki, Hawaii, that also included

Back Bay rival Newport Harbor, which finished second to Mira Costa

for the championship.

CdM made the final eight at the tournament, which pleased

Christiansen, entering his third year as the Sea Kings’ head coach

after assisting former head man Steve Conti, who still leads the boys

varsity team.

“To make the final eight was quite an honor ... only the top teams

were invited,” Christiansen said. “We were there before the

tournament started and scrimmaged Hawaii’s No. 1 and 2 teams: Punahou

and Kamahema. We had a great time. It was the highest level of

competition and we bonded as a team.

“We are loaded with talent. We had a real good summer camp with 50

girls coming out, which is the most I’ve ever had. The sophomores

last year have crossed that juncture to being upperclassmen and are

naturally stronger.”