Same story for CdM

REDLANDS — The black T-shirts commemorating the Redlands East Valley High girls’ volleyball team’s “3-PEAT” CIF Southern Section titles, are barely 10 days old and still have their out-of-the-box creases. But they may already be outdated when it comes to playing Corona del Mar.

With a 25-19, 25-21, 25-22 victory over the visiting Sea Kings in the Southern California Regional final of the CIF State Division II playoffs Tuesday, the Wildcats have now beaten their familiar Orange County rivals four times in section or regional title matches within the last 12 months.

“Every time we play them, I think we get a little bit better against them,” CdM Co-Coach Darryl Gan said after his team’s season ended. “But I’m still just a little bit tired of the outcome.”

The outcome was sealed Tuesday as much by CdM’s unforced errors as the dominance of the regional’s top-seeded team (37-3), which advances to the state title match Saturday at UC Irvine.

“I thought we were tentative against this team,” CdM Co-Coach Jim Downey said. “I don’t think we played with the same kind of intensity we did against Elsinore [a regional semifinal sweep on the road Saturday].

“I think the mistakes were our fault. We missed key serves at key moments that affected the momentum. We had a few defensive errors, too. I think we just played tentatively and that’s too bad.

“I think our speed works out very well against [the Wildcats], but we just didn’t do what we do as a team. We weren’t in system very much.”

Gan also commented on the inconsistent play of his team, which led in every game, but never by more than two points.

“We just didn’t put together more than two or three good plays,” Gan said. “We were a little shaky for whatever reason. We were right there, one or two plays away. But, unfortunately, those one or two plays went the other direction.”

Kristen Vansant, the Wildcats’ 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter who had 22 kills in her team’s four-game win over CdM in the section final Nov. 21 at Cypress College, had just 12 kills this time.

Vansant, who has committed to the University of Washington and will almost surely be the CIF Southern Section II-AA Player of the Year, was also stuff-blocked twice, had three hitting errors and boomed two jump serves into the net.

But Vansant had plenty of help. Alyssa Mason, a 6-2 sophomore middle blocker, had nine kills, two blocks and two block assists. And junior outside hitter Briana Potter added nine kills to help give senior setter Johnna Fouch some diversity to account for her 30 assists.

Senior Amanda Nickel led CdM (30-7), the No. 6 seed in the regional, with 11 kills, while junior middle blocker Claire Ham had eight. Junior opposite Morgan Boukather and senior outside hitter Sydney Brombal had six kills each.

Nickel, bound for Brown, had three block assists and one ace.

The Princeton-bound Brombal added a team-high 16 digs, while senior setter Madie Smith, who will continue her career at the University of San Diego, had 28 assists in the final match of a four-year varsity career that has included All-CIF distinction.

Sophomore Mary McKennon had 15 digs, while Boukather and junior libero Katelyn Baker had eight digs apiece.

“We had a great season,” Gan said. “Again, we weren’t very sharp against Redlands and that kind of hurts more than anything else at this point. But I’m proud of the girls. We beat a lot of good teams, we played hard and we have gotten better.

“I’m losing five seniors, but I’ve got a great group coming up and everyone is excited about that.

“I’m looking forward to watching these [departing seniors] play at the next level at their respective schools.”

CdM’s latest leads were 5-4 in Game 1, 9-8 in Game 2 and 15-14 in the finale.

The Sea Kings rallied from an 18-15 deficit to tie the final game at 19 and were even again at 22-22. But Redlands East Valley scored the next three points to spark a spirited celebration.

Redlands East Valley, the state runner-up last season, has now won 102 of 116 games this season.