Girls’ Volleyball: CdM falls in four at Great Oak

TEMECULA — Corona del Mar High girls volleyball coach Steve Astor said his team’s four-set loss at No. 2-seeded Great Oak came down to an inability to take advantage of a few more chances.

There are no more chances for the Sea Kings, who fell, 25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 25-22, in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA playoffs on Saturday.

CdM (22-5) rallied to even the match in the second set and led, 23-19, in the third. But the Wolfpack finished on a 7-1 run that included surviving two set points, to recapture momentum. The hosts then survived a late CdM run in the fourth set to close it out.

Great Oak (26-3) seized a 6-1 lead in the fourth set and eventually held a 23-16 cushion, before the Sea Kings closed to within 24-22. But the hosts pulled through to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our effort,” Astor said of his team, for which four seniors were among the starting seven. “We played some great volleyball. But sometimes in sports, it’s just an inch here or there and that’s how you lose. I told our girls all year that it was going to take someone playing their best volleyball to beat us. And [the hosts] played some phenomenal volleyball tonight. They were great.”

Astor said his team quickly rebounded from the opening-set loss by settling down and making more basic plays.

“We just took care of a few more chances,” Astor said of the second set, in which Great Oak’s final lead was 10-9. “Our simple passing on balls right to us was better, which made our sets better and our swings better. [The Wolfpack] had some great serves that were tough to stop. But when we had some easy ones, the off-speed serves, we needed to take advantage; not just for the one point, but for the potential run.”

The run is over for senior starters Jessie Harris and fellow co-captain Payton Carter, as well as Sydney Alacano and Natalia Bruening.

Harris led the Pacific Coast League champions with 11 kills, while adding 12 digs, one ace and one stuff block.

Alacano and Bruening had 10 and seven kills, respectively, while Carter had 14 digs.

Sophomore Ashley Humphreys amassed 22 assists and a season-best 20 digs, while chipping in seven kills, two aces and seven block assists.

Freshman Kendall Kipp had eight kills and seven block assists, while junior Alexa Bonanno had 25 assists.

Junior Joanne Won had 14 digs and sophomore Christina Davenport contributed five kills to the balanced CdM attack.

Senior 6-foot-2 opposite Bailee Huizenga had 17 kills, four block assists, one solo block and one ace, while 6-2 senior middle blocker Amy Underdown had 17 kills, six block assists, one solo stuff and one ace for Great Oak.

Senior setter Cindy Marina was also pivotal, triggering the Wolfpack attack and producing seven kills, mostly on deftly placed dumps. She also had three block assists.

Senior libero Samantha Rice was a defensive dynamo and added a team-best thee aces for the winners.