Sea Kings sweep Breakers

LAGUNA BEACH — There was a little fear floating around the Laguna Beach High gym following the Corona del Mar boys’ volleyball team’s three-game sweep of the Breakers Wednesday.

The inability of the Sea Kings, the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division II, to capitalize on the emotional high of winning the Best of the West Tournament over the weekend struck some fear in Corona del Mar Coach Steve Conti despite his team leaving with a 25-18, 25-22, 25-23 nonleague win over Laguna Beach, ranked No. 6 in CIF Division II.

Senior Blaine Nielsen had a team-high nine kills, while junior middle blocker added seven to go with four blocks for Corona del Mar (10-0). Juniors Jeff Carlson and Spencer Brown had six digs apiece and setter Phil Bannan had 26 assists.

“I felt we were not emotional,” Conti said. “I’m not sure why. This is one of our rivals. Laguna Beach is one of the storied volleyball programs in the country.”

Still, the opposition has a reason to be afraid. Corona del Mar won in three games without an intense effort throughout the match nor All-CIF second-team outside hitter Adam Smith, who is out with a broken hand.

In their last three matches, the Sea Kings have notched victories over three of the other five teams in the top six of Division II.

Corona del Mar did not play with any fear however. Laguna Beach was within striking distance in the second and third games, but the Sea Kings showed their championship mettle and pulled away in both.

After tying the score, 18-18, in the second game the Breakers came within a point four separate times, but never tied or took the lead.

“The composure is good,” Conti said. “We try to get the guys to understand once you have a team against the wall you have to put them away.”

Staring a sweep in the face, Laguna Beach jumped out to a 19-14 lead in the third game. Corona del Mar responded with the passion lacking in the first two games. Senior Brad McCoy ignited the fire with a block, which Ellis followed with a pair of blocks to spread the blaze.

“We came out with a lack of energy,” Ellis said. “I wanted to use [the block] to get us some momentum. We need it to snowball. Our effort went up and the crowd got into it. I think the sky’s the limit for this team.”

Senior Sam Stafford made a diving dig that Nielsen finished off with a kill from the back row to give Corona del Mar a 21-20 lead it would not relinquish.

“That was the best dig of his career, everyone was yelling,” Nielsen said. “We started out slow, but then we got our enthusiasm up. If we get one or two guys yelling, it tumbleweeds. We have plenty of talent. It is scary, the coaches said we are going to give them a heart attack. We definitely are just scratching the surface.”

For Conti the intense play late in the third game was a breath of fresh air.

“How we played at the end of Game 3 is how I would like them to play all the time,” Conti said. “We want them to have fun out on the court.”

CdM will next play in the Orange County Championships, which starts Friday and ends Monday with the championship match at Edison at 7 p.m.

CdM faces Edison in pool play at Edison at 3 p.m. Woodbridge and Capistrano Valley are also in the same pool.