CdM slides into quarters

CORONA DEL MAR — At Corona del Mar High, the back slide is a designed offensive strategy, rather than a shortcoming the girls’ volleyball coaches have to guard against.

The scheme, which calls for a hitter to angle her approach in a more parallel arc, starting near the middle of the floor and flaring toward the antennae where she encounters a backset and seldom any blockers, came in handy for the Sea Kings Thursday night.

The play was one of several that helped the No. 2-seeded hosts earn a 25-10, 25-23, 25-22 win over Arcadia in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA playoffs.

CdM plays host to Santiago of Corona in a quarterfinal match Saturday at 7 p.m.

Arcadia (19-3) had little defense for the deceptive maneuver, made all the more difficult to read by the execution of senior setter Madie Smith.

“The stuff that Madie sets behind her has proved to be effective this year,” CdM Co-Coach Darryl Gan said. “As long as we’re passing well, it’s way more effective. When we make a good pass and she has three options, she’s kind of hard to read. And Madie is really good at reading the blocker, so she can pick and choose who she wants her hitters to match up with. But that always comes down to passing and ball control.”

The Sea Kings (23-5) were in total control early against the aggressive Apaches, opening double-digit leads in a commanding opening-set win.

But Arcadia, champion of the Pacific League, proved to be no pushover in Games 2 and 3.

“They played hard, played well and they are well-coached,” Gan said of the visitors. “It could have easily gone either way. I feel fortunate that we ended up winning the match in three games.”

Ironically, aggressiveness worked against the Sea Kings, at times. Firing serves low and hard, CdM totaled 10 service errors.

“We missed more serves tonight than normal,” Gan said. “We try to be aggressive and sometimes it’s kind of give and take.”

Give and take would be a fitting description of the final two games, which each featured four lead changes.

CdM rallied from deficits of 19-16 and 20-17 in Game 2, thanks to the one-two hitting punch of senior Sydney Brombal and junior Morgan Boukather.

Boukather, who had a match-high 13 kills, produced four of her team’s final seven points of the game on kills. She had six kills in the game.

Brombal, who had two kills after the hosts fell behind, 19-16, finished with seven kills.

Junior Amanda Nickel added 11 kills for the winners, for whom Smith had 43 assists, 10 digs, four kills and two aces.

Junior middle blocker Claire Ham had nine kills for CdM.

Junior libero Katelyn Baker had 17 digs, while sophomore Mary McKennon had seven to go with her four kills and two aces. Brombal also had two aces.