Sea Kings swept away

LAGUNA BEACH — Lance Stewart paced the sideline Tuesday night, like a basketball coach.

He could have been another linesman, but thankfully that wasn’t needed in the nonleague girls’ volleyball match between his Laguna Beach High squad and his former team, Corona del Mar.

“It’s a new rule this year,” Stewart said. “Like just about every other sport in the world, the coaches are finally allowed to stand up. For me, who tends to get excited sometimes, it actually helps calm me.”

CdM Coach Darryl Gan stayed in his seat most of the match. So did the Sea Kings fans, as the host Breakers finished off a 25-17, 25-22, 25-18 upset win.

The Sea Kings (8-3), ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA coaches’ poll, looked flat against their rival, who started fast behind the senior leadership of outside hitter Paulette Grand Pre. Grand Pre was playing her first full match after missing the start of the season with a back injury.

After the match, she and the Breakers (4-4), ranked No. 5 in Division I-A, ate cupcakes to celebrate Grand Pre’s 17th birthday. She made sure it was a happy one by pounding out 16 kills, second only to teammate Chanel Stewart’s 17. Grand Pre also got to a team-high 15 digs, part of a Breakers defense that Gan said was a key in the match.

“Laguna is a good defensive team,” Gan said. “They served really well at us and their defense kept them in the match.”

Hailey Senske had a team-high seven kills, while Sydney Brombal and Madie Smith added five for CdM, which lost Game 1 going away but stayed close throughout Game 2. CdM was ahead, 21-19, after a block from Morgan Boukather and Claire Ham, then a kill from Brombal. But a kill from Grand Pre was followed by a block from the Breakers’ Allison Palmer and MacKenzie Hester, tying the score. Palmer then put away an overpass to give the Breakers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Katelyn Baker had 14 digs and Smith also had 17 assists for the Sea Kings. Grand Pre said she wasn’t surprised.

“I just thought we brought more energy than them and we were more consistent than them,” she said. “Our passing was consistent and our hitting was consistent. We played good defense, I thought.”

It was the first time that Lance Stewart, who coached at CdM from 1992-95, has topped his former team in three tries since 2007.