HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Corona del Mar boys volleyball team had a similar opponent across the net, having just faced Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach in the CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals just 10 days ago.
CdM went on the road and swept Mira Costa in their last meeting to advance to the finals. Saturday’s match in the CIF SoCal Regional final also ended in a sweep, but CdM was on the opposite end as Mira Costa got its revenge, sweeping CdM, 25-23, 27-25, 25-20, in the Division I final at Edison High.
“They played a better match than we played the last time,” CdM coach Steve Conti said. “I think they were a lot better defensively than us tonight. I also think they’re a much more mature team over there in regards to the amount of seniors and upperclassmen that they start. I think at the end of the day, that was the difference.”
After dropping the first set, CdM (30-7) appeared to be in great shape to even the match at 1-1. The Sea Kings moved to set point, 24-22 on a hitting error by Mira Costa. The Mustangs survived the first set point on a kill from Jackson Wedbush and the second on a kill from Roy McFarland.
At 25-25, Mira Costa (28-6) grabbed set point on a hitting error by CdM and McFarland ended the set with a block for a 2-0 lead in the match.
“I think they were a little bit more poised in some pivotal situations,” Conti said. “We certainly had a chance to win set two. We had some timely unforced errors at times, it is unfortunate for our kids, but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort.”
Corona del Mar did enough to win the second set, holding Mira Costa to a .050 hitting percentage, but the errors late proved to be too much to overcome.
In the third set, CdM led early, but lost the lead, 11-10. Later in the set, with the score tied 15-15, Mira Costa went on a 3-0 run to take the lead for good.
“This senior group has had a really good run,” Conti said. “What I’ll remember is how far they’ve come, like I said, we’re a pretty young team, with three sophomores starting and how far we’ve come and a big part of that was the job our seniors did, helping bring those guys along and being able to play the way they did.”
Sam Kobrine led the Sea Kings with 18 kills. Will Hunter and Mitch Haly had seven kills apiece. Matt Ctvrtlik had 36 assists and 13 digs
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
