Corona del Mar avenges last year’s CIF boys’ volleyball finals loss to Loyola, sweeping Cubs

NORWALK — Every time coach Steve Conti has led the Corona del Mar High boys’ volleyball team to this point in the year, he goes surfing early in the morning.

The spot in Newport Beach is 56th street. Conti is a regular there, and that’s because he keeps taking CdM to the CIF Southern Section finals.

For the 13th time in Conti’s 22 years at CdM, the Sea Kings made the section finale.

The road to the championship match began with Conti reaching a milestone in the opening round, winning for the 500th time with the Sea Kings. Eleven days later, Conti brought CdM back for its third straight Division 1 finals appearance.

The win that Conti longed for the most was the one that had eluded him and the Sea Kings the last two years. Each time in the section final, CdM lost in five sets.

After going the distance twice and falling short, CdM made short work of its opponent this year.

Conti and the Sea Kings avenged last year’s loss to Los Angeles Loyola, sweeping the top-seeded Cubs 25-22, 32-30, 26-24 at Cerritos College on Saturday.

The No. 3 Sea Kings (31-3) finally came through, doing so on the same court they lost to Loyola last year and to Huntington Beach two years ago. The Sea Kings claimed their first section crown in the top division since 2000, and they won their sixth title overall under Conti.

Knocking off Loyola (27-2) was extra special for Conti, whose Sea Kings had gone 3-12 against the Cubs since 2008.

“I was not expecting that,” Conti said of sweeping Loyola. “Certainly the second and third set could’ve gone either way. We knew it was going to be an absolute battle here tonight, and it was. I think what was the difference this year versus maybe when we played them at their place [on April 26 and lost in five sets], or when we played them in the finals [last year], we were able to make some clutch plays at the end of sets.”

Down the stretch is when CdM made the necessary plays to close out Loyola. In Game 2, it took the Sea Kings until their eighth set-point opportunity to beat the Cubs.

While Game 2 was a marathon, it was even 20 times before CdM prevailed 32-30, it ended in the same fashion as Game 3, with a block. Brandon Browning stuffed a shot to put the Sea Kings in position to sweep.

Early on, the Sea Kings almost let Game 3 get away from them, as Loyola took a 7-2 lead. Conti called a timeout, and CdM eventually caught the Cubs at 18-18. There would be five more ties, before Jake Meyer evened things up again for CdM at 24-24 with his eighth kill.

Meyer, who added two solo blocks and six block assists, wouldn’t let Loyola take Game 3. And neither would Patrick Paragas and Kevin Kobrine.

Paragas, who amassed 34 assists, one kill, seven digs and two block assists, recorded a service ace to put CdM at set match. Loyola coach Michael Boehle called a timeout, and when play resumed, the Sea Kings sealed their first section title in six years.

Kobrine rejected Will Bantle’s shot, and as soon as the ball fell on Loyola’s side, he and the rest of the Sea Kings crashed onto the court to celebrate. It took 1 hour 26 minutes for CdM to sweep its fourth opponent in the postseason.

“This is the situation we wanted, to play Loyola again for the championship,” said Kobrine, a junior committed to UCLA. “Our coach really prepared us for this [match].”

The last team to down the Cubs in three sets in the section playoffs was CdM, pulling it off two years ago in the semifinals at Loyola. That also had been the last time Loyola lost in the section playoffs.

How this one ended was surprising. Brady Wedbush led the Cubs with 11 kills, followed by J.P. Reilly and Bantle, who each had 10 kills. It wasn’t enough.

The Sea Kings stopped Loyola from going back-to-back. They did it with strong middle play from Meyer, a 6-7 senior, and 6-6 senior Mitch Haly (six kills, three block assists), and Browning (11 kills, six digs, one block assist), Clay Dickinson (10 kills, five digs, one block assist) and Kobrine (five kills, seven digs, one solo block, five block assists) firing away and playing well defensively. Diego Perez had 12 digs.

“This means so much more than just to this team,” said Conti, who began naming his former players who came up short on this stage in the previous two trips. “I start thinking about Ryan Moss, Kevin Fults, Augie Miller from two years ago, and I think about Sam Kobrine, Matt Ctvrtlik, Will Hunter [from last year]. These guys weren’t just playing just for themselves. They were playing for a long tradition of CdM guys.

“If I could’ve scripted 22 years ago what I wanted in this program, beyond winning the championships, it’s that family atmosphere and guys coming back and supporting one another.”

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Twitter: @ByDCP