Costa Mesa not quite ready

Joseph Boo

CORONA DEL MAR - Tuesday’s evening’s Pacific Coast League match

against Corona del Mar High was considered a measuring stick for Costa

Mesa’s girls volleyball team.

The host Sea Kings (9-3, 4-0) promptly gave a harsh assessment to the

Mustangs (4-6, 1-3) by winning in three games, 15-4, 16-14, 15-3.

After getting blown out in the first game, Costa Mesa led for most of the

second game. But CdM managed to pull it out with a flourish at the end en

route to the sweep.

“We’re too much of a roller coaster team with our emotions,” Costa Mesa

Coach Jeff Culver said. “If we’re up, we can play with anybody. But if

we’re down, we definitely can’t play with anyone.”

The match started at the bottom of the hill for Costa Mesa. CdM raced out

to a 7-0 lead in the first game, with two kills each from Meghan

Gallagher and Jamie Brownell. The Mustangs finally scored with a Brooke

Shanley ace, but the hitting of Brownell and Dimitra Havriluk overwhelmed

the Mustangs.

CdM’s momentum carried it to a 6-2 lead in the second game, behind two

kills and an ace from Brownell. Then the Mustangs started a run, ignited

by some CdM mistakes.

After a Costa Mesa sideout, two CdM hits that went out closed the gap to

6-4. Then, Katie Roches got an ace and Casey Peterson killed a poor CdM

volley to tie the game. After exchanging four sideouts, Peterson scored

again with a block. Shanley got another ace, and the Mustangs were up,

6-8.

Costa Mesa pushed the lead to 13-8 behind Peterson and Nancy Hatsushi.

Jacqueline Becker, who just entered the second game for the first time,

served an ace to start a CdM run. Kills from Brownell, Gallagher and

Havriluk completed the 4-0 run.

A sideout and a bad volley from CdM gave Costa Mesa a game point

situation. But CdM got the ball back, tied it up with an errant spike

from Costa Mesa, and then won it in dramatic fashion behind three

consecutive aces from Lindsay Anstandig.

“We started off strong,” CdM Coach Steve Conti said. “Emotionally, we

were not focused in the second game. We managed to regain our focus at

the end.”

CdM’s focus carried it through the third game, as it easily won, 15-3,

behind five kills by Brownell and 10 assists by Marissa Becker.

Marissa Becker led the Sea Kings with 18 assists, along with five kills

and seven digs. Jacqueline Becker had 13 assists, most of them in the

first game. Brownell led CdM with 16 kills, while Havriluk had 14.

Anstandig ended up with four aces, and Sara Deming contributed with three

kills and six digs.

Peterson had 11 kills to lead Costa Mesa. Hatsushi ended up with 15

assists and Dayley Kelly had five kills. Shanley had three kills and two

aces, and Sarah Watkins also had two aces for the Mustangs.

After the match, Culver summarized how he felt his team fared in a tough

test against the leaders in the PCL.

“We have a lot of things to work on,” Culver said. “But I’m happy where

we are in terms of skill level.”