In the driver’s seat

Bryce Alderton

Throughout a tumultuous season of one injury after another, Corona

del Mar High’s boys volleyball team maintained stability in its most

meaningful form -- winning.

The Sea Kings maintained their perfect league record and secured

at least a share of the Pacific Coast League championship by sweeping

visiting University, 15-9, 15-11, 15-8, Friday.

CdM (15-10, 8-0 in league) had swept University (9-7, 6-2) earlier

this season and leads both the Trojans and Laguna Beach by two

matches in the loss column with two left in league play next week.

The Sea Kings clinched the league’s No. 1 spot in the CIF Southern

Section playoffs.

“With six of eight seniors out for two weeks or more, to be 8-0 in

league says something about this team’s character,” CdM Coach Steve

Conti said. “Guys have stepped up when we’ve needed them to.

“Tom Welch had never played opposite before, but now he wants to

do well and improve. We’ve put Miles [Yourman] in the middle and he

usually plays outside hitter. He has the mental makeup for [middle

blocker]. Now we might need him to play outside a bit.”

Yourman, a 6-foot-2 senior, spent the first 2 1/2 weeks of the season out with a broken hand and switched to middle blocker in the

absence of 6-7 senior Eric Jones. Jones missed nearly all of the

preseason with an ankle injury, but has come on strong of late and

showed no signs of stopping anytime soon Friday.

He led the Sea Kings with 10 kills, four service aces and four

blocks, while tying senior setter Greg Gabriel for the team lead with

five digs. Gabriel tallied 31 assists, setting up Jones several times

for kills off of back slides.

“Gabriel set well and led us to victory,” Jones said. “He has

really been doing well. [Conti] is tough on us all, but Greg battled

through it and it has paid off huge in the last two weeks.”

The Sea Kings withstood a trying first game to prevail and the

Trojans led, 11-8, in Game 2 when a Jones kill swung the momentum

back to the hosts’ side.

With senior Brandon Sherick-Odom serving, Jones hammered two more

kills as the Sea Kings tied the Trojans, 11-11. The hosts then

powered their way to victory after the Trojans made four hitting

errors to close out the game.

“We just lost our focus and gave it away in the second game with

four points in a row,” University Coach Jo Ann Byars said. “I never

felt like we were out of it until we gave up those points. I thought

we blocked really well, but we just made too many mistakes.

“The first match [against CdM] we didn’t play well and [CdM]

rolled over us. I think we surprised them [Friday].”

Conti acknowledges the Sea Kings were lucky at times, but

mentioned his team also caused its own problems by committing 22

hitting and 10 service errors.

“University’s unforced errors bailed us out in the second game,”

Conti said. “[The referee] called a lot of nets when we would hit it

out, so we got lucky.

“I was a little disappointed with the way we executed and the

level of emotion we played with. It wasn’t good volleyball on either

teams’ part, but I’d rather play bad volleyball and win rather than

play bad volleyball and lose.”

CdM seemed to feed off the momentum gained from the second game as

the third game unfolded.

CdM posted a 9-3 cushion before University pulled to within 9-7,

with Yourman slamming one of his seven kills and adding a stuff block

in the rally. Sophomore Kevin Welch served seven consecutive points

to give CdM a 7-2 lead.

“The last game we had some trouble where [University] got some

points in spurts, but Kevin did a great job with those seven points

right away,” Jones said. “We didn’t let the panic set in.”

Welch slammed eight kills while Gabriel and Yourman each had two

blocks.

The Sea Kings rattled off five consecutive points in the third

game to build a 14-7 lead on the serving of junior Dominic Rubino.

Jones blasted two kills and secured a point with a stuff block down

the middle, through University blockers.

Jones had to adjust to University’s blocking scheme, which he said

featured a couple of combinations, to find openings.

“I was forced to hit it to the right instead of the left,” he

said. “Their blockers ran to where I was pushed to.”

University senior captain Charlie Nutt led the Trojans with five

kills and five blocks, teaming up with Barry Mir to deter many Sea

King hit attempts at the net.

“Our middles were running so slowly and that’s the easiest way for

an opponent to get a kill,” Conti said. “That’s not taking anything

away from University ... they are pretty physical. We just have to be

more consistent.”

With the exception of senior Bart Welch, who sprained his left

ankle and is a “day-to-day” proposition according to Conti, the Sea

Kings are regaining their health and just in time for the CIF

playoffs.

Seniors Odom (ankle) and Gunnar McClellan (shoulder), along with

sophomore Austin Brawner (torn ACL), are all back and give Conti

added fuel in for the CIF title drive.

“This is one of the deeper teams I’ve had and having these guys

back makes us better in practice with a lot of competition for

spots,” Conti said.