Sea Kings sweep, advance

VISALIA — After traveling about 228 miles and for nearly four hours, the Corona del Mar High girls volleyball team wasn’t about to bow out easily Tuesday night.

But in the first game against Redwood of Visalia, the Sea Kings appeared worn out from the long drive. They were down, 10-5, but Shannon Johnson came in to provide a spark. She served for four aces and was a key part of CdM’s 25-19, 25-20, 25-12 victory in the opening round of the CIF State Championships Southern California Division III regional.

The Sea Kings’ sweep sets up a rematch against Laguna Beach, who defeated CdM in three games for the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA title Saturday. Laguna Beach, the host, swept El Diamante of Visalia 25-9, 25-17, 25-10.

The regional semifinal between CdM and the Breakers will be at Laguna Beach Saturday and is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

“I’m looking forward to the rematch,” CdM Coach Bill Christiansen said. “[The Sea Kings] want another opportunity to show how they really play. They are a good team and we respect them, but we are ready to play a tough match against them.”

Christiansen is hoping his Sea Kings can catch the same fire they did Tuesday night.

“We totally dominated all facets of the game,” he said in a telephone interview. “We played an all-around balanced game and there weren’t many errors.”

Juliane Piggott led CdM with 15 kills and 11 digs and Kelly Christian added 15 assists, eight kills and five aces.

“We wanted to come out and redeem ourselves after the Laguna game,” Christian said. “We wanted to play our game and do what we needed to do.”

Christian also said she gained motivation from the crowd at Redwood, which was loud.

“They had a good crowd, but we’ve seen bigger,” she said. “It gets us pumped up when it’s loud. It makes the games more exciting.”

The Sea Kings (23-8) matched that excitement and turned in what Christiansen called, “an overall team effort.”

Jamie Lawson contributed 13 assists and four aces and Madison Smith added seven digs, seven assists and one ace. Kasey Kipp chipped in with five kills and two solo blocks, while Kara Chatham produced eight kills.

Christiansen said his players took pride in winning the match.

“They celebrated and really appreciated this win, especially in light of how far we had to drive to get here,” Christiansen said. “It was not easy.”

Redwood (22-9) won its first-ever Central Section volleyball championship Thursday, when the Rangers defeated El Diamante in four games.

The Southern California region of the State Championships has now dwindled to four teams vying to reach the state final, Dec. 2 at San Jose State.

Santa Margarita is the top seed in Southern California Division III and defeated Dieguito Academy 25-11, 25-8, 25-13.

The Eagles will host Cathedral Catholic in the other regional semifinal.