Girls’ Volleyball: CdM loses battle
MISSION VIEJO — A couple of days before the Corona del Mar High girls’ volleyball team opened its Pacific Coast League title defense, the Sea Kings had a major test on Tuesday. The match was the kind Coach Steve Astor wanted for his Sea Kings right before league.
They traveled to Trabuco Hills. Once inside the gym, Astor pointed at one of the walls for his players to see. There was a picture of what the Mustangs achieved last year, their first CIF Southern Section title.
If the Sea Kings didn’t know they were in for a battle before they arrived at Trabuco Hills, Astor hoped the team photo would tell them to expect one.
The nonleague contest went the distance, and the hosts won. Trabuco Hills edged CdM, 25-18, 18-25, 23-25, 25-14, 15-13.
Afterward, the Sea Kings met near the Division 1A championship team photo. They lost to a formidable opponent, and even though the result didn’t go the Sea Kings’ way, Astor told his team to get ready for league. The Sea Kings (4-5) are at Northwood on Thursday at 5:15 p.m.
“Everything we do, beside [playing] Newport [Harbor], because we want to win that [Battle of the Bay rivalry] match, is about getting ready for league, and I think this match helped us,” said Astor, who praised the play of libero Tia Grippo (22 digs) and Raleigh Garner, both came off the bench. “We saw a lot of good things, and there [are] still little things to work on.”
The start and finish to a match are two of those things CdM needs to correct.
The opening set with the Mustangs (7-2) wasn’t how Astor envisioned it. The Sea Kings got off to a slow start, falling behind, 12-4 and they dropped Game 1.
They rebounded in the second and third sets, claiming both. In the last two sets, CdM couldn’t close things out. Game 5 saw CdM take an 8-4 lead, forcing Trabuco Hills Coach Craig Moothart to call a timeout.
“I said if we can steady out a little and reduce our errors by not having to play great, but good, we’ll give ourselves a fighting chance to come back in this thing,” Moothart said.
The Mustangs rallied, scoring the next six points to take a 10-8 lead. Jillian Wheaton, who finished with 12 kills, started the run with a kill, and then Kendall Anselmo served tough.
Anselmo produced three straight service aces. She served right at CdM sophomore sensation Kendall Kipp.
“[Kipp] was kind of up and down at times, and they did a good job of hiding her, but down the stretch … we got the right server, [we] got the right contact on the ball, and [we] got her in a tough situation,” Moothart said. “Passing is 99% mental, and once you start going down that road of no return, it’s hard to kind of battle back through it. And she’s young and she needs the experience. By the way, our server is a sophomore, too. She did a masterful job of keeping the ball on her.”
Kipp also kept the Sea Kings within striking distance in the decisive fifth set. She cut the deficit to 11-10 with one of her 12 kills.
But then Serena Hodson and Maiken Sorenson recorded kills, putting the Mustangs at match point. Anselmo finished off CdM with her 12th kill.
Christina Davenport had nine kills for CdM, while Ashley Humphreys added eight kills.
“I was really impressed with their ability to play defense,” Astor said of the Mustangs, who have three returning starters off last year’s team that reached the CIF State Southern California Regional Division I finals. “Even [after] set four, I told our girls, ‘I don’t think we played poorly. They just outdefended us.’ In set five, we had rough stretch at the end.”
