Corona del Mar moves to title match

Chris Yemma

After a convincing win against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, the Corona

del Mar High girls volleyball team will test its firepower in the CIF

Southern Section Division III-A championship match.

There was no luck of the Irish for this Notre Dame (12-6), as the

top-seeded Sea Kings (24-5) defeated the visiting Knights, 25-19,

25-16, 22-25, 25-19, in the semifinals Tuesday to also qualify for a

berth in the CIF State championships.

CdM won in four games, but came close to sweeping the match,

losing the third game by just three points.

“They had an outstanding defense,” Sea Kings’ Coach Bill

Christiansen said. “The bottom line for us was to come out and play

as hard and as best as we can -- that’s all you can do.”

That was all the Sea Kings needed to do, and they did it. Aside

from the third-game slip up, CdM controlled the pace and tone of the

entire match.

Senior Lindsey Ensign, a tri-captain along with seniors Jordan

Smith and Breanne Ogden, had a match-high 21 kills to accompany her

18 digs. Smith had 17 kills and 23 digs and took charge of the fourth

game.

With the Sea Kings down, 2-1, Smith smacked down five kills en

route to giving CdM a 7-3 advantage. She had two more later to put

the Sea Kings up, 17-13.

“My role as a senior and captain is to provide energy all the time

and set an example,” Smith said. “When any player has a good hit or

dig, it provides energy for the team.”

And to wrap up the evening for the Sea Kings, senior Britta

Nielsen had an ace on match point that erroneously bounced off the

face of a Knight player.

In the process of the match, a possible future captain emerged --

sophomore Kelly Christian -- who has been improving and stepping up

as the season has progressed, Christiansen said.

“The biggest one huge improvement on this team has been

Christian,” said Christiansen. “Just her jump serves alone account

for 25-to-30 percent of our point total.”

Christian finished the match with 10 kills and 18 digs.

“I’ve gotten more confident lately,” she said. “I’ve just kind of

broken out of my shell, because I know everyone wants to win.”

The Sea Kings will be facing third-seeded Nipomo (17-2) in the

final Friday or Saturday at Cypress College. Christiansen said there

are still things the team can improve for the final.

“We need to try and get a little better on our fundamentals,” he

said. “That’s what we practice on everyday, and if we get that down,

no one will beat us.”