Girls volleyball: CdM swept away in San Diego

Tony Altobelli

SAN DIEGO - The unforced mistakes that have plagued the Corona del

Mar High girls volleyball team once again reared their ugly head in

Tuesday’s 15-8, 15-9, 15-10 loss to host University High of San Diego in

the first round of the CIF Division III state championships.

“It’s definitely been an up-and-down type of season,” CdM Coach Steve

Conti said. “They took advantage of our mistakes and made the most of

them.”

CdM’s miscues, combined with a healthy dose of Dons’ junior outside

hitter Kristina Hoban (18 kills), were too much for the Sea Kings.

“(Hoban) is one heck of a player,” Conti said. “But we also had way

too many returns in the net, in the antennae and out of bounds.”

Senior Lindsay Anstandig led the Sea Kings (18-11) with eight kills.

Katie Duggan added seven and Sara Deming chipped in with six.

It looked good for CdM in the first game. After trailing, 2-0, the Sea

Kings ripped off seven straight points and forced the second-seeded Dons

(37-3) to call timeout.

From there, the San Diego Section Division III champions went on a

13-1 run to take the opener.

“We had that lead early, but we let them get back in it,” Conti said.

“A couple of our players had an off night tonight, which is unfortunate.”

CdM again jumped out to a lead, 5-1, in the second game, before the

Dons scored eight in a row to take the lead for good.

Trailing, 10-6, Jacqueline Becker (28 assists) helped cut the Dons’

edge to two, but University put away the final four points.

The final game was controlled by the Dons from the outset. They scored

eight of the first nine points and led, 14-4, but CdM refused to go

quietly.

A Uni error and back-to-back kills by Anstandig, cut the lead to 14-7.

A tip kill by Deming, another Uni error and another Anstandig kill, made

it 14-10.

Finally, on their fifth match point, the Dons sent the Sea Kings home

with a season-ending loss.

“Hey, we’re still Pacific Coast League co-champions, we still reached

the CIF Southern Section (Division III-AA) semifinals and we qualified

for state,” Conti said. “Considering all the seniors we lost from last

year, we still managed to accomplish a lot.”