Sea Kings win

Patrick Laverty

There’s no question Corona del Mar High’s girls volleyball team is

looking forward to its rematch against Northwood on Nov. 6.

But the Sea Kings have some work to do before then and they

continued that work Monday with a four game victory over Laguna Beach

at Thurston Junior High, winning, 25-15, 25-13, 20-25, 25-13.

“There was a lot going on in that match,” Corona del Mar Coach

Bill Christiansen said. “There was a lot of gamesmanship by the other

team that could have been distracting to my girls. But I’m happy with

the way they played and the sportsmanship they showed.”

Much of the gamesmanship was between Christiansen and Breakers

Coach Lance Stewart. The two engaged in a mini-argument after the

Breakers won the third game and Stewart refused to shake

Christiansen’s hand after the match, saying the Sea Kings coach had

called him a cheater.

The dispute between the coaches, which was consistent throughout

the match, came to a head after a call late in the third game that

went against the Sea Kings.

“The thing that concerns me is when coaches badger the officials

and they don’t get a card or a timeout called,” Christiansen said. “I

don’t want delays in the game. If you want to challenge a call that’s

fine. But if you lose a challenge, you’re supposed to lose a

timeout.”

The minor spat overshadowed a strong team effort from Corona del

Mar (15-7, 5-1 in Pacific Coast League play). Led by Jordan Smith’s

14 kills and 12 digs, the Sea Kings proved much stronger than last

week, when they need five games to dispose of the Breakers (3-13,

1-5).

Corona del Mar cruised to a 25-15 victory in the first game, but

fell behind in the second and third games. The Sea Kings were able to

rally in the second, scoring nine of the final 11 points, but

couldn’t overcome a four-point deficit in the third.

“We’re still starting slowly,” Christiansen said. “It’s something

we’re trying to work on.”

The work was apparent in the fourth game when Corona del Mar raced

out to leads of 6-2, 9-3 and 13-4. The Sea Kings did so by holding

serve, 14 of the first 18 serves were hit by CdM.

“Our serving was much better,” Christiansen said. “I don’t know

our percentage, but we didn’t miss many.”

The Sea Kings also played strong defense, limiting the Breakers to

two points on their service game in the fourth game.

Breanne Ogden had 16 digs in the match for the Sea Kings and

Lindsey Ensign added 10. Lauren Snell came up with nine kills and

Ashley Bill led the team with 34 assists.

Corona del Mar now has to get by University Thursday and Calvary

Chapel next Tuesday before its rematch against Northwood, who handed

the Sea Kings their first league loss in two years a week ago Monday.