Girls’ Volleyball: Sea Kings bow out of playoffs
There used to be a time when Steve Astor and Alyse Ford were on the same girls’ volleyball team.
Astor served as an assistant coach at Laguna Beach High, where Ford played. Both left Laguna Beach, Astor taking over at Corona del Mar two years ago and Ford transferring to Mater Dei for this year.
It has taken Astor and Ford a couple of years to see each other on the court in the same match. The former assistant and former player at Laguna Beach missed each other in September, when CdM played Mater Dei in the Dave Mohs Memorial Tournament. Ford wasn’t available because of the 30-day CIF Southern Section transfer rule.
Ford is eligible these days, and she stood in the way of Astor leading CdM to the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA championship match. The senior produced 22 kills, lifting the No. 3-seed Monarchs to a 25-20, 13-25, 25-15, 26-24 semifinal win at CdM on Tuesday night.
Ford proved to be the difference, the one go-to player CdM did not have to keep pace with the Monarchs’ high-flying outside hitter.
“We had our chances,” said Astor, whose team was unable to push the match to a decisive fifth set, watching Mater Dei’s Shannon Scully produce a service ace at match point. “No one, beside us, expected us to go this far. We were inches away from extending that [match] to five. If it goes five, there’s no doubt we win that fifth game the way we’ve been playing in Game 5s.
“It’s a great luxury to have a player like Alyse Ford on your team. She’s phenomenal, not just attacking, you know, blocking-wise, [with her] defense in the backrow. We just couldn’t overcome her.”
The Monarchs (28-10) return to the Division 1AA final to face top-seeded Redondo Union (34-2), which defeated Temecula Great Oak, 25-19, 12-25, 25-23, 25-15, in the semifinals.
The Sea Kings (25-6) lost to Mater Dei at home in the postseason for the second straight season. Last year, CdM featured Hayley Hodson, one of the top players in the country. Hodson didn’t return for her senior season, and without the Stanford-bound outside hitter, CdM performed well, defending its undefeated Pacific Coast League title and reaching the semifinals for the first time under Astor.
The Sea Kings were more balanced this year. Players like Jessie Harris, Katie Craig, Natalia Bruening, Sydney Alacano, Paige Fauntleroy, Payton Carter, Samantha Jones and Paige Migliori contributed all season.
Harris helped CdM stave off elimination at match point, recording one of her nine kills, one back of Craig’s team-high 10. With the Monarchs’ second match point opportunity, Alacano delivered one of her six kills to tie the fourth set at 24-24.
The next two points belonged to Scully. She pounded a ball for a kill, and then handcuffed Alacano on a serve to clinch the match for Mater Dei.
“It was really nice to come through and not have to go five for once,” said Mater Dei Coach Dan O’Dell, whose team won its quarterfinal and second round matches in five sets.
“[Ford is] an absolute game-changer. This was her best match in the CIF run right now. She carried us.”