Boys volleyball: CdM claims crown

Barry Faulkner

CYPRESS - The story lines were nearly as plentiful as sideouts

Saturday night, as Corona del Mar High outdueled Back Bay rival Newport

Harbor, 15-3, 6-15, 15-12, 9-15, 15-6, to win the CIF Southern Section

Division I boys volleyball title at Cypress College.

For those who like the revenge angle, the Sea Kings avenged a four-game

CIF title-match loss to the Sailors last spring.

That defeat, which included the Sea Kings losing an 11-4 third-game lead,

stuck in their collective craw until they traded it for the sweet taste

of their fourth section crown, their second in three seasons.

For those who appreciate a courageous performance in the face of

potentially debilitating injury, CdM senior setter Kevin Hansen obliged.

Hansen reemerged in the final game after a sprained right ring finger and

rolled ankle forced him to hide in the back row for a few rotations in

Game 4.

Those who enjoy senior stars ascending to stratospheric heights in the

championship showcase, need have looked no farther than CdM outside

hitter Greg Stampley.

Stampley, a future USC walk-on whom Conti said had a 101-degree fever Thursday, still had enough adrenaline-induced strength to post 10 of his

match-high 33 kills in the deciding game. He also ended the two-hour,

15-minute affair with the title-clinching stuff block.

And while those angles obviously held more appeal to the Sea King

faithful, the Newport Harbor contingent could easily take solace in the

valor associated with a determined underdog.

Coach Dan Glenn’s Sailors, who had lost three times previously to their

cross-town adversaries, before gnawing through playoff foes including San

Clemente, top-seeded Marina and always-pesky Santa Margarita to get a

final rematch, became the only team all season to push CdM (22-1) to a

fifth game.

The Tars (17-6) also earned post-match praise from Glenn, who noted: “My

kids have come far and fought the whole time. I don’t think we lost

tonight as much as CdM just won it.”

In the end, however, Hansen managed a more economical summation, between

left-handed handshakes with well-wishers, to protect his puffy and tender

right hand, which gingerly clutched his red CIF championship patch.

“This is pretty sweet,” said Hansen, the only Sea King to join Conti in

section title matches the last four years.

Hansen, bound for Stanford, where he will align with powerful Harbor

senior outside hitter Billy Clayton, amassed 59 assists, six kills, four

blocks and one ace, in spite of his damaged digit.

“It doesn’t hurt at all right now,” a beaming Hansen said afterward, a

point CdM Coach Steve Conti later refuted.

“It was bothering him a lot,” Conti said of the injury, which he

correlated to Michigan State’s dilemma in the recent college basketball

Final Four.

“(Hansen) hurt it in the first game, then hit it again in the third

game,” Conti said. “I actually heard someone say something was broken and

he couldn’t even go up and block. We had to go to Evan Burden to set for

a little while, but there was no way he was going to let me take him out

of the match.

“The first thing I thought of was (Michigan State senior point guard)

Mateen Cleaves (who was hurt, but returned to lead the Spartans to the

NCAA championship.) After seeing that gutty (Cleaves) performance, we

talked about that as a team and I told them there are times when a senior

can give you leadership on the court, even if he can’t do much else.

“Kevin shook it off in that fifth game and was setting again like nothing

was ever wrong.”

Little went wrong for the Sea Kings in the opening game, a 13-minute run

through which included a 10-point service run by CdM senior Alec Hanson.

Hanson started the second game with an ace and a Stampley kill made it

2-0.

But Newport setter Kent Turner (56 assists, seven stuff blocks, two kills

and one ace) triggered an attack that included kills by Clayton, senior

middle Dustin Illingworth, junior middle Christian Berg-Hansen and junior

outside hitters Brian Gaeta and Blake Tippett, to even the match.

The third game, the match’s longest at 31 minutes, began with Harbor

taking a 4-1 lead, before CdM ran off five straight points.

Ties at 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 followed, before two Stampley digs set up a

Charlie Alshuler kill to put CdM ahead for good. Stampley made it 14-12

with a stuff block and a Harbor hitting error set the CdM half of the

nearly 3,000 rooters off on one of their consistent, drum-accompanied

frenzies.

After CdM overcame a 4-0 deficit to lead, 5-4, in Game 4, Newport put the

Sea Kings away, using only two of Clayton’s 30 kills, neither for points,

to force the fifth game.

“After that first game, we were thinking it wouldn’t go five,” Hansen

said. “But our team stuck together.”

“We were struggling in that fourth game and we weren’t sure how bad

Kevin’s injury was,” Stampley said. “But in the fifth game, we all

realized we hadn’t come this far to lose.”

Said Glenn: “The fifth game was going to come down to whoever made a run.

Both teams were pretty tired. I was fired up about my kids, but Kevin

came back and played so well that last game. That’s why he’s the

(projected) CIF Player of the Year.”

Stampley, however, may share such honors with Hansen, as he did

superlatives from Conti.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that (Stampley) was the most complete player

out here,” Conti said. “And, having the best setter in CIF sure

compliments him and our whole team.”

Alshuler, a 6-foot-1 junior middle, proved an effective shot maker en

route to 13 kills, while Hanson (10 kills) and junior lefty Brian

Gallagher (seven kills) kept Harbor blockers honest.

Conti also praised the contributions made by seniors Chris Shephardson

and Cedric Chun, juniors Garrett Macklin and Forrest Mack, as well as

sophomore John Grod.

“Great defense won it for us tonight,” Conti said. “We played 11 guys

tonight, who are the same 11 who have been contributing all year. That

means a lot to me.”

Conti also acknowledged Saturday’s triumph, which denied Harbor its

fourth section crown in six title matches, will be savored by more than

those who rode home on the team bus.

“I think this meant a lot to the community,” Conti said. “I saw a lot of

guys who played for me who came up short in the title match. I think this

was important to them. They share in the credit, because they helped

rejuvenate the tradition in this program.”

Illingworth finished with 16 kills for the Tars, who also got 11 from

Gaeta, six kills and three blocks from Tippett, as well as three kills

and two blocks from Berg-Hansen.

Seniors Jimmy Sanders, Adam Tomalas and Brad Craig, as well as sophomores

Lloyd Wright (one ace) and Greg Perrine, also contributed for the

Sailors.