CdM rallies to defeat Northwood

Bryce Alderton

Defeating the defending Pacific Coast League champion should have

pleased the Corona del Mar High boys volleyball team, right?

The Sea Kings sent visiting Northwood home with a 13-15, 15-4,

15-7, 15-9 league loss Wednesday, but it was hardly to the liking of

CdM Coach Steve Conti, who had a few words about his team’s

preparation and intensity.

“We didn’t come ready to play,” Conti said. “We played with no

emotion, like we didn’t want to be out there. Usually you look

forward to playing a team that knocked you out of the [CIF]

Playoffs.”

CdM dropped all three matches to Northwood a year ago, including a

CIF Southern Section Division IV semifinal in three games. The

Timberwolves had all seniors starting last season but have just two

returning players this year, in which they’re 3-6, 2-3 in league.

“We should not have been unprepared to take care of business,”

Conte said. “I’m at a loss. I told them before the match that we

didn’t look like we were prepared to play volleyball and that didn’t

change throughout.

“If we played Laguna Beach [Wednesday] ... it would have been a

different match.”

The Sea Kings (10-7, 5-0) defeated Laguna Beach in four games in

the PCL opener earlier this month and the two teams will face each

other today at approximately 4:30 p.m. at CdM.

Conti did praise the play of sophomore brothers Kevin and Tom

Welch, who slammed 25 and 12 kills, respectively, Wednesday, along

with senior setter Greg Gabriel [58 assists].

Kevin Welch said the Sea Kings may have taken the Timberwolves too

lightly.

“We came in thinking that they lost all their seniors and didn’t

have any leadership, but they overwhelmed us that first game,” he

said. “Losing that first game sparked us. We were upset after that.”

Northwood took a brief 4-3 lead in Game 2 before CdM scored the

final 12 points, intertwined with 12 sideouts.

The third game featured 21 sideouts. CdM was stuck on an 8-2 lead

for seven of the sideouts before building a 10-2 lead. Senior Eric

Jones tallied six kills in Game 3 while getting help on the outside

from senior Bart Welch, who tallied three kills in the span.

The Timberwolves got as close as 12-7 before Jones tallied his

final two kills of the third game and Kevin Welch hit through the

blocks to clinch the final point.

Senior Miles Yourman tallied two of his three kills in the fourth

game, which CdM led, 7-2, before Northwood began getting a net

presence with senior twin brothers Eric and Steve Richter, who each

tallied solo stuff blocks along with hits that found the gaps in

CdM’s defense.

A service ace and a CdM hitting error allowed the Timberwolves to

close within 10-8, but Yourman got a much-needed sideout when he

reached to his right to one-arm a return, deftly placing the ball

away from defenders.

On the next point, Kevin Welch made a dive toward the middle to

keep alive a Northwood hit and CdM eventually got the score when the

visitors hit the ceiling on a return.

Bart Welch, on a stuff block, along with kills by Gabriel and

Kevin Welch, gave the Sea Kings the victory.