Sea Kings ousted in regionals

Rick Devereux

It was a dark and stormy night for the Corona del Mar High girls

volleyball team. The Sea Kings lost, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 17-25,

15-12, to host University of San Diego High in the Southern

California regional semifinals of the CIF State Division III

championships Saturday.

CdM (27-6) put forth a worthy effort against the top-seeded Dons,

holding a lead in every game. But unforced errors proved costly.

“We probably could have won in four [games] if we got our serves

in,” CdM Coach Bill Christiansen said. “Both teams played fantastic,

though.”

CdM took a 15-12 lead in the first game on consecutive kills by

middle blocker Lindsey Ensign, outside hitter Jordan Smith and

opposite Kelly Christian.

University (25-10) rallied back to take a 19-16 advantage, thanks

to successful attacks by seniors Brooke Buringrud and Christine

Kennedy.

Buringrud, a 6-foot-3 outside hitter headed to the University of

Arizona next fall, finished with a match-high 19 kills.

Kennedy and junior Brittany Thurston finished off the game with a

combined stuff block.

The Sea Kings took a 16-9 lead in Game 2, but two hitting errors

and three service errors by CdM gave Uni a fighting chance. The Dons

tied the game, 20-20, but blocks by Christian and Ensign gave CdM a

quick surge. Ensign, who had a team-high 16 kills, slammed home a

winner on a quick set to give CdM a 26-24 victory.

Traci Lawson, the senior setter who Christiansen called the

emotional leader of the team, had a superb match distributing assists

away from Uni blockers.

“[Our seniors] were a huge impact on this team,” Christiansen

said. “They are CIF [Southern Section] Division III-A champs and they

took second at the Dave Mohs tournament.”

The Sea Kings battled to a 9-6 lead in the third game on a kill by

senior Britta Nielsen and a service ace by Christian. But Uni fought

back to take an 18-17 lead.

Three hitting errors and a service error by the visitors gave the

Dons a 21-18 advantage. University held on for the 25-23 win on a

block by Kennedy.

“We have a tendency to start slow,” Uni Coach Kelly Drobeck said.

“At around 14 or 15 points, we decide we want to win the game. We’ve

been doing that the whole year.”

The teams exchanged points in the fourth game until Christian

registered three consecutive kills for CdM and the Dons committed

three hitting errors to give the Sea Kings a 21-14 lead.

A kill by Ensign ended Game 4 and forced a fifth game.

The teams battled back and forth again, but CdM committed three

service errors and four hitting miscues to give the Dons the 15-12

victory.

“This was a real fun match,” Drobeck said. “[CdM] is a great team

and I think this was an entertaining match.”

Despite the loss, Christiansen said he was proud of the

performance of his squad.

“For us to get 27 wins with the schedule we had was phenomenal,”

he said.