Corona del Mar ousted

Corona del Mar High boys volleyball coach Steve Conti recapped a CIF

Southern Section Division II semifinal match in simple terms.

“[Valencia of Valencia] played super good. [The Vikings] are one

of the best teams we played this year,” said Conti, after his

fourth-seeded Sea Kings fell to the top-seeded Vikings, 25-15, 25-13,

25-14, Wednesday night at Hart High in Newhall.

Junior outside hitters Tom and Kevin Welch finished with six and

five kills, respectively, while senior setter Dominic Rubino tallied

17 assists for the Sea Kings (22-11), who had meager leads of 1-0 and

2-1, but couldn’t match Valencia’s all-around play.

“We made so many unforced errors, but give [the Vikings] credit,”

Conti said. “We got stuck in rotations where [the Vikings] got a lot

of points.”

Outside hitter Tony Ker, bound for UCLA next season, was one of

five senior starters for Valencia (18-1).

Rubino was the only senior starter for CdM, which also received

four kills from junior middle blocker Austin Brawner.

Kills were hard to come by for the Sea Kings, even when they

appeared to find an opening.

“They were one of the best blocking teams I’ve seen. I don’t think

one of our attempts hit the floor without touching off their block

first,” Conti said. “They don’t have the biggest and best superstars,

but have six solid players who understand their role and do very

well.”

Jake Cancellieri led the Sea Kings with three block assists while

teammate Ted Slaughter tallied three kills.

Freshman Adam Smith had two kills and one block assist while

junior Ben Applebee had one dig.

Tom Welch had two digs while Rubino and Kevin Welch each tallied

one for CdM, which finished the Pacific Coast League undefeated

(10-0) for the second straight season, claiming their second

consecutive league crown in that span.

“This team came along and was consistent considering how many guys

graduated from last year,” Conti said.

The Sea Kings have nine juniors on this year’s varsity squad and a

few more from the junior varsity team could factor into next year’s

plans.

“I told the guys to work harder and, hopefully, we go one step

further next year,” Conti said.