CdM can’t solve Breakers

LAGUNA BEACH — For the Corona del Mar High girls’ volleyball team, Saturday night’s CIF Division III Southern California semifinal match was a chance to prove a point.

After being swept by Laguna Beach in the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA championship match on Nov. 18, the Sea Kings got a rematch at a higher level — playing for a CIF regional final berth.

“We wanted revenge so badly,” setter Jamie Lawson said.

Revenge wasn’t on Laguna Beach’s agenda.

The Breakers again proved up to the challenge, winning in four games, 25-27, 25-22, 25-16, 25-16, at Laguna Beach High. The loss ends the season for the Sea Kings (23-9).

Three of the nine losses came to Laguna Beach (28-5), which advances to play Santa Margarita in the regional final.

“This is a match that’s more indicative of our team, but they played very well again and they were the better team tonight,” CdM Coach Bill Christiansen said. “But my team’s a great team. Two good teams met, and we came out on the short end.”

The Sea Kings came out firing early. Juliane Piggott, who finished with 24 kills, had seven of those in Corona del Mar’s first 13 points alone.

Neither team led by more than four points in that first game, but Laguna Beach had a 24-22 lead and was serving for the game before Piggott’s kill and Kara Chatham’s block tied it at 24-all.

With the score tied at 25, Laguna Beach committed an error on a dig, and Piggott finished it on a kill assisted by Madison Smith.

“We wanted to show that we could play better than how we played in the [CIF] finals,” said Kasey Kipp, who finished with seven kills and three solo blocks. “We know that we’re a great team, and we wanted to at least give them a good match.”

The Sea Kings also had the lead for most of the second game, although never by more than two points. But with the score at 21-all, the Breakers’ Zoe Garrett got a kill, then a dump shot by Alexandra Palmer gave Laguna Beach a 23-21 lead.

The Breakers went on to win the game on a kill by Dana Hutchinson, their powerful outside hitter who finished with a team-high 18 kills.

“I felt like we could have won the second game,” Christiansen said. “They would have been down 2-0, and they would have been in huge trouble. We had momentum going, but there were a few points that hurt us right at the end. Otherwise, we’re winning the match.”

The third game was less competitive, as Laguna Beach opened on an 8-3 run that forced a CdM timeout.

“They got a few points, and they just started going,” Kipp said. They just got hot.”

The Sea Kings weren’t able to win a point on their serve in the game until they were down, 23-10. Corona del Mar then won five consecutive points, including a service ace from Tess Hodges, but couldn’t get closer.

Laguna Beach Coach Lance Stewart, a former Corona del Mar coach, said it was all about execution for the Breakers.

“We let them off the hook in the first game, but we finished games two, three and four,” Stewart said. “We finished all the way through the 25 points, and I think that was the difference.”

Corona del Mar was also behind for all of game four, pulling its closest on Conley Kipp’s kill to make the score 17-13, Laguna Beach.

But the Breakers’ Mychaela Miller recorded two straight kills and Laguna Beach was off and running again, winning the match on a Garrett block.

Kelly Christian had 13 kills and 13 assists for Corona del Mar, Jamie Lawson had 17 assists and Madison Smith had eight assists and 17 digs.

Ashley Pries added a team-high 18 digs, including two consecutively in the first game to spark a Piggott kill.

After the match, there were tears shed on the CdM side, but also realization of everything the Sea Kings had accomplished.

“This year, we played awesome,” Lawson said. “We had a lot of wins; it was a good run.”