Sea Kings stay perfect in PCL

IRVINE — Play stopped, with blood covering some parts of the white horse and Trojan at midcourt.

Corona del Mar High watched host University wipe the blood off the school’s logo. One player dragged a white rag under his shoe to remove the blood.

The referee sitting by the volleyball net even rose from his seat and climbed down to help with the cleanup effort.

The Trojans took care of the situation caused by a scab opening up on a player’s knee. They showed how much they wanted to continue the Pacific Coast League match CdM would eventually sweep, 25-9, 25-22, 25-19, on Tuesday.

It didn’t matter that University was up against the top-ranked program in CIF Southern Section Division II.

University just wanted to play someone. It hasn’t competed much because interim coach Chris Goto said the head coach has been away four weeks due to family reasons.

CdM Coach Steve Conti said he knew very little about the Trojans’ situation. But after seeing his Sea Kings take the first game with ease, University gave his team fits.

The match marked the first time CdM (21-1, 5-0 in league) had played since April 5, but being off during spring break wasn’t the reason for the letdown in Games 2 and 3.

“Maybe in the beginning we thought we could take it,” said Gus Ellis, who led CdM with nine kills and added two blocks. “We came out with confidence and took care of them, but later I think we kind of dropped off on the intensity and just thought we could float through.

“They never really got down. [Conti] said that we made way too many errors and that we underestimated them as the games went on.”

Seeing that the league leader took them lightly after Game 1, the Trojans fought back. Goto saw her smaller team commit numerous errors, but the effort is what stood out to the JV coach. The tenacious play prompted her to compare her team to CdM’s.

“I think if we cut down our errors, we could be there with CdM,” said Goto, before being reminded by a parent that her team is in last place in league at 1-3.

University is far from where Conti has Corona del Mar headed. The 12-year Sea Kings’ coach admires the Trojans’ resolve, but he plans to lead CdM to a third straight section championship appearance. And win it this year unlike last year. Conti said this time they’ll get a huge test before the playoffs start.

CdM will be at the two-day Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions event, which starts Friday. Sixteen premier programs from the section as well as the Fresno area will compete.

The Sea Kings open the first of two games Friday with No. 8 Santa Ynez at 11 a.m. They’ll still be without UCLA-bound senior Adam Smith, who Conti said is out for the year after it was determined by doctors that the outside hitter broke and tore a ligament in his left hand.

Conti said Smith first thought he had broken his wrist and not hand.

“Any time you lose a player that’s been a starter for three years, it hurts you. It is what it is,” Conti said. “It’s given some guys some opportunities to go out there and they’ve really seized that opportunity.”

One player moving into Smith’s position is Jeff Carlson. The junior has played a variety of positions for CdM in the past. Ellis said Carlson, as the rest of his teammates, including UC Sana Barbara-bound senior Blaine Nielsen, senior setter Phil Bannan, and Dylan Davis and Brad McCoy will have to elevate their play if the Sea Kings plan to win the school its sixth boys’ volleyball section title.

The trip to Santa Barbara will determine if they’re ready.

“We’re definitely [hoping to] make a big splash over there,” Ellis said. “We went out and won the Best of the West Tournament [in San Diego], and then lost a real poor match to San Clemente in the Orange County Championships [at Edison], and didn’t win that tournament. We’re hoping to go undefeated in Santa Barbara.

“We don’t know much about [Santa Ynez] right now, but we kind of have a big rivalry dating back to the late 90s [to 2001]. I guess we went to the CIF finals with them three [times in a five-year period], and only won one of them.”