The Corona del Mar girls volleyball team wound up on the wrong side of the opening set Tuesday.
The Sea Kings’ response to the situation was just what Coach Steve Astor was looking for.
Corona del Mar, ranked sixth in the county, won each of the next three sets in convincing fashion to beat visiting Laguna Beach, 23-25, 25-11, 25-14, 25-17, in a nonleague match.
“We had a chance to win that (first) game …,” Astor said. “I was talking between sets that we were going to get those same chances, we just had to convert them, and we did a good job of that.”
The Sea Kings (2-0) used a balanced attack that was led by Jessie Harris (12 kills), Katie Craig (11 kills) and Natalia Bruening (10 kills). Samantha Jones added eight kills.
“Our middles did a great job,” Astor said. “We wanted to feed them the ball a lot tonight and they led the way for us.
“All of these girls are a year older. They played last year and they’ve seen a varsity block and varsity defense. They know when to take their chances and not.”
That’s going to be key for the Sea Kings this season as they progress into the season. With star outside hitter Hayley Hodson devoting her time to the U.S. Junior Women’s team, CdM will be looking to keep defenses off-balance all season with its capable group of attackers.
“Our strength is definitely that we’re a strong team,” Astor said. “This is a tight group of girls. Anyone can do it for else on any night.”
To the Breakers’ credit, they had a chance to possibly force a fifth set. They battled to get within 17-16 in the fourth set, but CdM would score seven consecutive points, three coming on kills from Bruening, before closing the set on a service error.
The loss was the second in a row to start the season for the No. 10 Breakers, who were swept by Santa Margarita last week.
“As a team, we just didn’t perform,” Laguna Beach coach Raul Papaleo. “They had some good players, but we gave up to many points in a row.”
At the Lakewood Molten Classic
No. 4. Villa Park 3, No. 3 Los Alamitos 1: The Spartans, behind Emma Calle’s 26 kills and 14 from Peyton Grahovac, defeated the Griffins (3-2), 21-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-21 in the third-place match of the tournament.
Emily Elder had 45 assists and Maddie Olsen had 26 digs.
Also in nonleague:
No. 3 Santa Margarita 3, No. 5 Sage Hill 2: Meghan McClure had 26 kills, Devon Chang added 50 assists and Brooke Hertel contributed 23 digs for the Eagles (3-0).
Tesoro 3, Woobridge 2: After an interesting week off of the court, the Titans were able to get back to volleyball against the Warriors Tuesday.
Sierra Bates’ 20 kills and Rachel Arens’ 19 helped the Titans (1-0) pull out a 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 26-28, 15-9 home victory. Macy Looft had 49 assists.
Edison 3, No. 9 San Clemente 2: Tatum Holdaway led the Chargers (2-0) with 16 kills and Lindsey Sparks had 14 in the 26-28, 25-19, 25-16, 16-25, 16-14 home victory. Dani Dennison had 30 digs. Sparks and Olivia Kocsis had 24 and 21 assists, respectively.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
