Girls volleyball: Sea Kings schooled by Harvard-Westlake

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - Despite strong play from seniors Dimitra Havriluk

and Jamie Brownell, Corona del Mar High girls’ volleyball team lost to

Harvard-Westlake, 15-11, 6-15, 15-11, 15-4, in Tuesday’s CIF Southern

Section Division III-AA semifinals.

A defensive change up front and a tough game-three comeback by the

Wolverines seemed to put the nail in the coffin for the Sea Kings.

“Harvard made a little adjustment to their front court and it really

helped them out,” Coach Steve Conti said. “We seemed to lose that push in

the middle of game three and we couldn’t get it back. We’ve done that in

the past and got away with it, but we paid for it tonight.”

Havriluk finished with 25 kills and 14 digs, while Brownell had 18

kills and 16 digs for the Sea Kings (15-6), who had lost earlier in the

year to Harvard-Westlake at the San Marcos Tournament.

“They didn’t have (Courtney) Schultz the last time we faced them,”

Conti said. “They really did a good job of shutting us down late in the

game.”

Schultz, a sophomore, finished with 15 kills to lead the Wolverines

into the finals against Bishop Montgomery.

Corona del Mar jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in game one before the

Wolverines (22-5) managed to rip off six consecutive points to draw even.

Both teams battled back and forth and with Harvard-Westlake up, 12-11,

a long CdM return and back-to-back blocks by Kelly Ayers gave the

Wolverines a 15-11 game one win.

It was all CdM in game two as middle blocker Meghan Gallagher came up

with three kills and a block during a 6-0 run that gave the Sea Kings a

9-5 lead.

The senior middle blocker finished with 13 kills.

After CdM stretched the lead to 11-6, an ace by Brownell and three

kills by Havriluk evened the match at a game apiece as CdM won game two,

15-6.

In the pivotal game three, CdM once again started out strong, jumping

out to a 5-0 lead on the strong serving of Gallagher and Lindsey

Anstandig.

The Sea Kings remained on top, 11-7, before the Wolverines, led by

Schultz and Karalyn Kuchenbecker came through with eight straight points

to steal game three, 15-11, and the momentum for good.

“Our girls never quit,” Wolverines Coach Jess Quiroz said. “They hung

in there and had to battle a really tough CdM club tonight.”

Game four was dominated by the Wolverines, this year’s Mission League

champions and last year’s CIF-SS Division III-A champions, pushing the

lead to 12-2, before closing out the match, 15-4.

Sophomore Jacqueline Becker had 48 assists, while senior Marissa

Becker added 14 digs, 10 assists, two kills and three aces for the Sea

Kings.

The loss ends a 10-game winning streak and a solid season for the Sea

Kings, who finished as the Pacific Coast League champions, snapping

Laguna Beach’s 11-year run at the top.

“I always have high expectations when it comes to this ball club,”

Conti said. “I felt that this would be a championship ball club.

Unfortunately, we came up a little short.”