Boys’ Volleyball: CdM sweeps again
The Corona del Mar High boys’ volleyball team has won every set in the first three rounds of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. Continuing the streak of sweeps will be highly unlikely in the next round.
The No. 3-seeded Sea Kings easily took care of Westlake, winning the quarterfinal match at home, 25-13, 25-18, 25-20, on Saturday. Next comes CdM’s first test in the postseason and it will come on the road against a program it has struggled against recently.
The Sea Kings’ semifinal opponent is No. 2 Los Angeles Loyola (29-1), which has beaten CdM (27-6) three straight times, all in the last 12 months. For the second straight year, the powerhouse programs meet on this stage at Loyola and it falls on another Wednesday night.
Playing at Loyola on a Wednesday hasn’t turned out in CdM’s favor, having lost last year’s semifinal in five sets and losing this year’s nonleague match in four. Nevertheless, the road to CdM’s first section finals appearance since 2012 must go through Loyola yet again.
Under Coach Steve Conti, the Sea Kings have never won at Loyola in five tries. Their sixth trip to Loyola is set for 7 p.m., and Conti doesn’t plan to take his team to the same downtown Los Angeles restaurant it dined at prior to facing Loyola in the semis last year.
“I can be a little superstitious at times,” said Conti, whose team left with a bad taste in its mouth the last time it played at Loyola in the playoffs, unable to close things out at match point twice.
Conti said he understands why “a lot of people are probably saying that” Loyola is the favorite to beat CdM. The Cubs, who swept Los Alamitos, 25-17, 25-18, 34-32, in the quarterfinals, are looking to reach the section finals for the sixth time in the past seven years.
The Cubs, whose only setback has come against top-ranked Huntington Beach, will definitely have the crowd behind them in hopes of setting up a third consecutive section finals matchup with the Oilers.
“It’s going to take a great effort [to beat the Cubs], especially on the road at their place,” Conti said. “Hopefully we can get some fans that can kind of make the trip [to Loyola] on a Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but I do like how we’re playing. We played with a sense of urgency tonight [against Westlake] and I thought our seniors kind of really stepped up tonight.”
Veterans like Ryan Moss (nine kills, 12 digs, two block assists, one service ace), Kevin Fults (eight kills on 16 attempts with no errors, two aces, two block assists, one block) and Augie Miller (eight kills) helped the Sea Kings prevail against Westlake for the third time in a row. The previous two contests took place at the Best of the West tournament two years ago, and in the CIF Southern California Regional Division II finals four years ago.
The Sea Kings got off to a good start in the latest matchup against Westlake (24-5). Miller recorded four of CdM’s first 11 points, all on kills. The Sea Kings went to the Pepperdine-bound middle blocker and he put away his chances to give CdM a four-point lead. Westlake called a timeout, hoping to slow Miller down.
The break didn’t do much. Miller added two more kills, and his teammates kept coming at the Warriors. Matt Ctvrtlik, who recorded 35 assists, six digs, one kill and one block assist, set Sam Kobrine, Will Hunter, Moss and Fults up for kills down the stretch in the first set.
Hunter also blocked back-to-back shots by Chris Shaffer, who went down with an apparent ankle injury with Westlake behind, 21-12. Kobrine, who finished with nine kills, two digs and one block, closed things out with two of his four kills in the opening set.
Kobrine’s jump serve also proved to be dangerous. The junior started the second set with an ace, and then Moss, a 6-foot-7 outside hitter headed to USC, gave CdM a 3-0 lead by taking some steam off his shot.
The Sea Kings stayed in front the rest of the way, and Fults provided the best finish in the second set. After the longest rally of the evening, Fults stuffed Shaffer, putting CdM up, 9-4. Fults, with the help of Hunter, turned Shaffer away again. Fults, a future UC Santa Barbara opposite, also pounded out three kills and dropped in an ace in Game 2.
“We definitely want to see them again,” Fults said of the Cubs, who since 2010 have eliminated CdM twice in the semifinals. “We know we haven’t played our best against them the last two times we’ve played them, [first losing to the Cubs in three sets in the finale of the Santa Barbara Tournament Champions on April 18]. I thought this was a great match [against Westlake], just to get a good momentum rolling in to play [the Cubs]. I think it will [go down to the wire like last year’s semifinal].”