Corona del Mar downs Newport Harbor again, reaches fourth straight CIF SoCal Regional final

The Battle of the Bay high school boys’ volleyball rivalry between Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor takes place every year. One year the match is at CdM, and the next is at Newport Harbor.

It is one thing for these Back Bay programs to play in the regular season, and it is another for them to do so in the playoffs.

The Sea Kings and Sailors had only met in the postseason three times before Thursday, in the CIF Southern Section first round in 1974 and in the section finals in 1999 and 2000.

Another huge crowd came out to watch the Sea Kings and Sailors, packing the CdM gym for the second time in eight weeks. This time CdM and Newport Harbor faced each other on a different stage for the first time, in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs. At stake was a trip to the championship.

The Sea Kings are on their way to the SoCal Regional finale for the fourth straight year.

Top-seeded CdM beat No. 4 Newport Harbor 25-13, 25-20, 18-25, 25-22 in the Division I semifinals at home, setting up another championship showdown with No. 2 Los Angeles Loyola.

The Sea Kings (33-3) made it after beating the Sailors (29-5) for the second time this year and for the fifth consecutive time. The latest contest ended with a little controversy, as Newport Harbor was on the verge of forcing a decisive fifth set, until one of the referees called a red card on Ethan Talley for using profanity after his kill.

Instead of leading 21-19 in Game 4, Newport Harbor led by only one. The red card awarded the Sea Kings a point, and gave them the serve. From there, Kevin Kobrine evened things up for CdM with a service ace, 21-21, and after Newport Harbor called a timeout, coach Rocky Ciarelli barked at the referee.

Ciarelli had a lot to be upset about, especially after CdM took the lead, scoring four straight points, the first via a red card and the next three on its own. After Kobrine’s ace, Mitch Haly and Clay Dickinson combined to stuff a shot, and then Dickinson recorded one of his 13 kills to put CdM ahead 23-21.

The Sailors would score once more, before CdM closed it out with another block involving Haly.

“It got a little chippy out there,” CdM coach Steve Conti said. “Certainly this match meant a lot to both sides. I’m not sure what was said, but obviously both teams were warned numerous times, both teams were yellow-carded several times. I told our guys, ‘We can’t afford to lose our cool and give a point away for something like that.’”

The Sea Kings stayed composed late in Game 4, and they get to play Loyola (29-2) for the second time in eight days. The Sea Kings and Cubs will square off in the SoCal Regional finale at Edison High on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

The previous contest between CdM and Loyola went to the Sea Kings, who swept the Cubs 25-22, 32-30, 26-24 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals at Cerritos College last Saturday. The year before in the section final, Loyola outlasted CdM in five sets.

The season will conclude with two of the most storied programs in Southern California playing for a third time this year. They split their first two meetings, Loyola winning in five sets during nonleague action at home on April 26, and CdM prevailing on a neutral court last week.

The Cubs and Sea Kings are used to making it this far in the SoCal Regional.

The Cubs advanced to their seventh Division I final by defeating No. 3 Oak Park 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20 at home on Wednesday. As for the Sea Kings, they’re making their second straight Division I finals appearance, in 2014 and 2015 they made it in Division II.

The only time CdM has lost in a SoCal Regional final was last year, falling in three sets to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa. Loyola dropped the SoCal Regional Division I final in its past three appearances, from 2013 to 2015.

The SoCal Regional playoffs have only been around for nine years. This marked the first time the Sailors were a part of the tournament, and in their debut, they were a win away from reaching the championship match.

In the way was Newport Harbor’s nemesis. The Sea Kings denied the Sailors.

Two days after Cole Pender said the Sailors were “going to come to CdM and take them down,” the Sea Kings came out to prove the UCLA junior commit wrong.

“We highlighted it and put it on a bunch of walls in the gym,” CdM setter Patrick Paragas said of what Pender said leading up to the rematch.

The only things that needed to be taken down at CdM were those signs quoting Pender.

Paragas helped the Sea Kings score nine of the first 10 points on the night. Diego Perez had two service aces in Game 1, and Paragas, Brandon Browning had one apiece.

The Sea Kings also blocked four shots in the opening set, Jake Meyer and Haly each had a solo block, and Haly, a senior bound for USC, teamed up with Dickinson and Kobrine to turn away two shots.

The Sea Kings’ size proved to be an issue for Newport Harbor. They rejected five more shots in Game 2, Haly, Paragas, Kobrine and Dickinson each coming up with a solo block, and Meyer and Kobrine combined on a block.

Newport Harbor did take a set from CdM for the first time in three years, as Ohio State-bound senior Spencer Lawrence, Pender, Dayne Chalmers and Landon Monroe led the way. But that was it. The Sea Kings weren’t going to drop another one to the Sailors.

The Sea Kings continued to own the Back Bay, and now they have a shot to rule the top division in Southern California for the first time.

“This is a huge win for us,” Conti said of defeating the Sailors. “They got two [legendary] coaches over there in [assistant coach Dan] Glenn and Rocky Ciarelli.

“I’m so thankful to have this program play in the last match of the year. Last year we got to the [section] finals and we got to the [SoCal Regional finals], and walked away with nothing. This team has already walked away with a CIF Division 1 championship.”

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Twitter: @ByDCP