ORANGE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS:

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Corona del Mar High redeemed itself with its best blocking of the season Monday night to win the Division I Orange County Championships in a best-of-three match.

After losing to Foothill, 25-16, 25-21, in their opening match of the tournament Friday, the Sea Kings (11-4) won the title match against the same team, 25-19, 25-17.

“It was a little bit easier because we had some motivation knowing that they not only beat us, but beat us pretty bad, pretty much demoralized us,” CdM Coach Steve Conti said.

Senior middle blocker Gus Ellis, the tournament MVP, led with two blocks, while junior middle blocker Dylan Davis, another all-tournament team selection, had five block assists.

There wasn’t much surprise there: Ellis at 6-foot-6, and Davis at 6-7, are expected to push the ball back. But at 5-11, junior setter Connor Bannan’s denial was a little more shocking.

He’s the second shortest guy on the team.

“I think it was kind of cool,” Conti said. “A lot of times, kids think if you get the block straight down to the floor, that’s a good block. Sometimes you just need a blocker to touch the ball and slow it down for the defense. It was nice that Connor was able to get a couple blocks for us tonight. I think that really fires our team up because maybe not too many people expect that from him.”

Senior outside hitter Jeff Carlson, the Sea Kings’ last all-tournament team member, had six kills, four digs and one block for the Sea Kings, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division II coach’s poll.

Sophomore right side/outside hitter Weston Nielson had one block and three block assists. He also added two kills.

Monday the Sea Kings were on the alert for Dane Worley, the Knights player who gave CdM trouble in the first match.

Worley still had some forceful kills. His Game Two score cut CdM’s lead to 13-12, and the Knights, ranked No. 3 in Division I, tied, 13-13, after Ellis tried to put away the ball with a soft tap, but fell short. It was the closest the Knights came to touching the Sea Kings, who otherwise led the rest of the match.

“I think they’re pretty smart with him,” Conti said. “Some coaches have a go-to guy and they send him all over the court all the time. I think they’re smart about it. They keep their other guys a bit more involved and when it’s crunch time, or a big point, they’ll try to set him. High school kids don’t always remember that in the middle of a long rally.”

The championships also gave the Sea Kings an opportunity to avenge a Wednesday regular-season loss (25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19) to Laguna Beach. CdM defeated the Breakers 25-22, 25-19 in pool play.

Davis said one of the reasons the Sea Kings beat the Breakers the second time around was because they made fewer mistakes. Monday, however, that problem was still present, and the Sea Kings won Game One in spite of their mistakes. Ten of the Knights’ 19 points came from CdM’s unforced errors.

“We still have four or five missed serves, a couple over-passes, a couple missed nets,” Conti said. “That was the good thing. It was nice that we won this game, but I still felt we could play a little bit better volleyball. I think we’re just starting to learn how to eliminate some of the unforced errors. Serving errors — we just can’t make mistakes like that.”

The Sea Kings open Pacific Coast League play today at Beckman at 5:15 p.m.

Senior setter Kyle Caldwell of Newport Harbor also made the all-tournament team.

SORAYA NADIA McDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at soraya.mcdonald@latimes.com.