STATE GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL SEMIFINALS : DIVISION I : Corona del Mar Gets Intense in Time to Reach State Finals

NEWPORT BEACH —  Laid-back volleyball usually gets teams in serious trouble in the Southern California Regional playoffs, but not so for the Corona del Mar High girls’ team Tuesday night.

The Sea Kings, top-ranked in USA Today’s national poll, overcame some inconsistent play to defeat Stockton St. Mary’s, 15-8, 15-13, 15-13, in the Division I regional championship match at Corona del Mar.

“We played a ‘B’ match tonight,” said Sea King Coach Lance Stewart, grading his team’s performance. “It has been a long year, and maybe they’re a little worn down.

“We’ve played a couple of ‘A’ matches this season. Maybe we’re just a ‘B’ team. But when we had to play hard tonight, we did.”

Corona del Mar, 23-0 in overall matches and 90-6 in all games played this season, will meet Laguna Beach,a 15-5, 8-15, 15-6, 15-6 winner over Mountain View St. Francis, in the State championship match at 6 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Fullerton.

Corona del Mar swept Laguna Beach in the section finals two weeks ago.

The Sea Kings are trying to win their second State title in three seasons and finish as the nation’s top-ranked team for the first time in school history. The 1990 team that won the State title finished second nationally.

Tuesday night’s comeback victory was the second in a row for the Sea Kings, who rallied in the final two games to beat Torrance in Saturday night’s regional semifinals.

St. Mary’s rallied from a 13-10 deficit in the second game to tie it, 13-13, before consecutive kills by the Sea Kings’ Allison Englebrecht and Jennifer Stroffe ended the game.

The Sea Kings trailed, 13-10, in the third game, but capitalized on three unforced errors by St. Mary’s to score the final five points and win the match.

Stroffe and Lori Newcomer led Corona del Mar with 12 kills each. Englebrecht added eight. Jaime Elson led St. Mary’s (33-3) with eight kills.

Afterward, Stewart said he was frustrated with his team’s play. The Sea Kings had four hitting errors and five violations in the third game. alone.

“We needed to play with more intensity,” he said. “Maybe, now that we’re in the finals, we will have that intensity.”

In the Northern California Regional Division I finals:

Laguna Beach 3, Mountain View St. Francis 1--Rachel Wacholder had 25 kills and Hilary Kyle added 21 as visiting Laguna Beach won, 15-6, 8-15, 15-6, 15-6.