Boys volleyball: Sea Kings shipwrecked by Pirates

Tony Altobelli

CYPRESS - The Corona del Mar High boys volleyball team picked an

inopportune time to have an off day.

The Sea Kings saw too many mistakes mount on their side of the scoring

sheet and it proved too much to overcome in Saturday’s 15-9, 15-5, 15-8 loss to Santa Ynez in the CIF Southern Section Division IV title match at

Cypress College.

“That’s been our Achilles’ heel all season long,” CdM Coach Steve

Conti said of the Sea Kings’ errors. “But I don’t need a banner hanging

on the wall to know if my team worked hard. They’re champions in my

book.”

CdM senior Brian Gallagher led the fourth-seeded Sea Kings with 14

kills and six digs, while senior Charlie Alshuler chipped in 11 kills and

10 digs. Evan Burden triggered the attack with 35 assists.

“Brian brought his complete game to the table,” Conti said. “All year,

we’ve had different people step up and have a great match. Brian’s hard

hitting and Charlie’s excellent defense were very nice to see out there.”

Unforced errors, combined with the Santa Ynez tall timbers, made an

unsettling combination for the defending Division I champion Sea Kings

(15-7), who were making their fifth straight title-match appearance.

“We walked through what I thought they would try to accomplish,”

Pirates Coach Chip Fenenga said. “Basically we wanted to serve away from

No. 10 (Gallagher) and No. 16 (Forrest Mack) and let our aggressive play

take over.”

The Pirates, winners of three straight section crowns and six, dating

back to 1995, were led by 6-foot-8 junior Matt McKinney, who pounded 24

kills and had eight blocks.

“He was all over the place,” Conti said of McKinney. “They did a good

job of moving him around and keeping him involved at all times. It seemed

like he was everywhere out there.”

McKinney made his presence felt right away with two kills and two

blocks as the second-seeded Pirates (20-4) jumped out to a 7-2 advantage

in the opening game.

“The opening half of the first game was pure adrenalin,” Conti said.

“We just had to settle down and regain some composure.”

Which is exactly what the Sea Kings did. Burden sparked a 5-0 run with

a block and a kill for points as CdM tied the game at 7-7.

In a game which had a number of momentum changes, Santa Ynez regained

control with a 4-0 run, thanks to a block by 6-7 J.T. Gilmour, an ace by

Tommy Witt and a kill by Jeff Urton.

CdM cut the deficit to 11-9, but the Pirates took advantage of Sea

King mistakes for three straight points and ended Game 1 with an emphatic

kill by McKinney.

It went from bad to worse for CdM in Game 2, quickly falling behind,

8-0. McKinney had a couple of kills during the run, but it was the Sea

Kings’ passing woes which caused the most damage.

“Passing sets up our entire offense and when we don’t pass, well, it

falls apart,” Conti said. “We’d hang in on a point, but we’d spoil the

effort with a bad pass.”

Santa Ynez extended its lead to 14-5, but CdM refused to go away

quietly. The Sea Kings fought off six match points before an errant

return finally gave the Pirates a 2-0 advantage in games.

“We did a good job of mixing up our serves,” Fenenga said. “Plus, our

defense, which usually isn’t the best in the world, played well enough to

win today.”

CdM tried to pull the momentum out of the Pirates’ grasp early in Game

3. A Gallagher kill, an ace by junior John Grod and a block by Gallagher,

gave CdM a 3-1 lead and brought the Sea King fans to their feet.

The joy didn’t last too long, however, as Santa Ynez maintained

composure and ripped off eight straight points, mainly on wide or long

returns by CdM.

Later in the game, CdM trailed, 12-5, but thanks to a Mack block, two

nice blocks by Alshuler and a Pirates’ violation, CdM cut the lead to

12-8, forcing Santa Ynez to call a timeout.

“There were three or four long rallies where if we were to win those

points, we might have been able to grab some momentum,” Conti said.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize on them.”

A Santa Ynez block and two CdM return errors later, the match ended 85

minutes after it began.

“They were a better team than we were today,” Conti said. “Perhaps if

we had another chance to play them on a different day, it might have been

a different outcome.”

According to Fenenga, the Pirates also had an emotional advantage,

following the tragic death of Sam Johnson, the Pirates well-known

supporter and the father of junior middle blocker Roy Johnson. Sam

Johnson died of cancer Wednesday.

“It was almost like having a seventh player out there,” Fenenga said.

“This tragedy brought these kids together. You could see it at the

funeral. It was a shared experience and the players fed off of that

today. Sam was loved by a lot of people and it was nice to win this one

for him.”