Sea Kings stay alive, will play in state tournament

The Corona del Mar High girls’ volleyball team will play in the CIF Division III State Volleyball Championship tournament after losing to Bishop Montgomery in the Southern Section Division AA-II semifinals Nov. 13.

CdM (18-11) will travel to San Diego Cathedral (15-6) to face the Dons Tuesday.

The victor from Tuesday’s match will face the winner of the Tehachapi-Laguna Beach match in the quarterfinals Saturday.

CdM lost to Laguna Beach in the quarterfinals of last year’s state tournament.

“I think we deserve to be one of the top eight teams in this division,” said Sea Kings coach Bill Christiansen. “We play extremely well against the top teams from all over the nation. We played in Chicago and did well. We’ve lost some very close matches to very good teams.”

The CdM girls took one day off after losing in Torrance, then returned to practice for two days “crossing our fingers and hoping that we would receive the honor that we deserved, and it worked out,” Christiansen said.

The Sea Kings have faced Cathedral, the third seed in the Division III Southern California section, in previous state tournaments, but not this season. The two teams were prevented from playing in the Santa Barbara tournament because of the Southern California wildfires.

Bishop Montgomery, which defeated CdM in five games, also received a berth, and will play at fourth-seeded Hanford.

“Our girls did not quit against Bishop Montgomery,” Christiansen said, “And one of these days, we’re going to be on the right side of a four-point gain in the fifth match.”

Newport Harbor was not awarded a tournament berth.

— From staff reports