CdM sweeps to open CIF SoCal playoffs

Palisades High coach Carlos Gray did his best to hold on to the positives after being swept at Corona del Mar on Tuesday night.

Gray could take solace that he has a young team with no seniors and a starting lineup that includes three sophomores, two juniors and a freshman.

Yet, Gray couldn’t neglect his opinion of the Sea Kings, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 champion that swept his Dolphins, 25-16, 25-18, 25-17, to open the CIF Southern California Regional Division I playoffs.

“They’re the real deal,” Gray said of top-seeded CdM (32-3), which used its depth and size to overpower Palisades. “Sometimes you hear about teams before you see them, and they are real. They are big. They are athletic. They’re in system. They have great ball control. They’re the real deal, and it shows. They have great coaching.”

CdM coach Steve Conti said his team went right back to work after winning the CIF-SS Division 1 championship on Saturday. But Monday’s practice was more about being mentally prepared, he said.

“We certainly didn’t play at the level that we did on Saturday night, and I expected that coming into this match,” Conti said.

Still, the Sea Kings looked impressive reeling off their third straight postseason sweep. CdM, the Pacific Coast League champion, has five sweeps in the postseason.

Junior setter Patrick Paragas had a variety of options against Palisades, the Los Angeles City Section Division 1 champion. Paragas amassed 27 assists to go with seven digs and two aces.

Senior Clay Dickinson and junior Brandon Browning also added seven kills each. Senior Mitch Haly contributed five kills and one solo block, and senior Jake Meyer had four kills, one solo block and four block assists for CdM, which opened the first set with a 15-3 run. Diego Perez led the Sea Kings with 10 digs.

Palisades could not find any rhythm throughout, but hung with CdM in the second set. The Dolphins (37-6) trailed, 14-13, before the Sea Kings went on a 10-3 run to grab a 24-16 lead and then later finished them off with a Kobrine kill from a Paragas set, 25-18.

Next up for CdM: rival Newport Harbor in what will be the season’s second Battle of the Bay.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty even match,” Conti said of Thursday’s match. “I think it’s going to come down to who is executing and who is going to make some plays at the end of each set.”

The Sea Kings swept the first matchup on April 1, 29-27, 25-18, 25-23, at home.

“It’s going to be very fun,” said Kevin Kobrine, a UCLA-bound junior, who had seven kills and four block assists. “We played them before. We played them well. They will probably do some things different. We have to be ready for that.”

[email protected]

Twitter: @SteveVirgen