Blaine Nielsen, right, of Corona Del Mar smashes the ball against Carson Clark of Santa Barbara during the CIF Southern Section Division II boys volleyball championship final at Cerritos College in Norwalk. SANG H. PARK, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER MORE PHOTOS Related links Aztecs beat Mira Costa

Sea Kings get redemption

NORWALK – The final script for the Corona del Mar boys volleyball team began the same way for the second consecutive season.

The Sea Kings won the first two games of their CIF-SS Division II finals match Saturday and then lost the third game. Just like they did last year.

Fortunately for them, that is where the similarities ended.

In last year's final, the Sea Kings were never able to recover after losing the third game and went on to lose the match.

This time, the Sea Kings (33-2) didn't have to watch the other team celebrate. They did it themselves after a 25-23, 25-22, 30-32, 27-25 victory over Santa Barbara at Cerritos College. The title is the CdM's second in three years.

"Toward the end it might have been a little scary, it might have seemed like flashes of last year," said Corona del Mar outside hitter Blaine Nielsen. "But we have a resilient team and we were able to pull it out."

The Sea Kings failed to close the match in three games and started slowly in the fourth. Santa Barbara led throughout the early stages and also led at 20-19. Nielsen blasted a kill inside the Santa Barbara block for a 24-23 lead, but the Dons wouldn't go away, forcing a tie at 25-25.

"There might have been a little doubt," Nielsen said. "Santa Barbara is a real good team when they're rolling and things are going their way.

"It was a slow start in Game 4, but a block here, a kill there got us going."

It also didn't hurt to turn to junior middle blocker Gus Ellis, who spearheaded the Sea Kings' attack in the first game with six kills. He finished with 20 kills in the match.

"I tried to focus on each point as it came," Ellis said. "(Setter) Phil Bannan pretty much makes my life easy. We played the best passing game that we have all year."

The Sea Kings served for championship point four times in the third game, but the Dons fought off each attempt. Finally, on the third championship point attempt in the fourth game, the Sea Kings finally erased last year's disappointment.

"It feels really great to come back in the finals and win it this time." Bannan said. "It feels unbelievable."

Bannan had 53 assists. Nielsen added 16 kills and Jeff Carlson chipped in with eight. Spencer Brown had 14 digs.

"This team has been through a lot," Coach Steve Conti said. "Losing a player (Adam Smith to injury) earlier in the year, Blaine (Nielsen) having to deal with injuries throughout the year. … We had a guy quit late in the season. But nothing really got in their way and they never took their eyes off what their goals were.

"This team pretty much achieved all of their goals. They wanted to win a big tournament and we won down in San Diego (Best of the West). They wanted to win league, they wanted to beat Newport Harbor and they wanted a shot to get to the finals. … We really wrote a beautiful ending to a great long journey."