CdM survives battle with Torrey Pines
SAN DIEGO - Any lingering disappointment from a loss to Marymount of Los Angeles in the CIF-SS 1A final had dissipated Sunday. By Monday, the Corona del Mar girls volleyball team was again ready for action.
While it wasn't a thing of beauty, the Sea Kings survived to beat Torrey Pines of San Diego, 25-15, 22-25, 23-25, 25-16, 19-17, on Tuesday in the first round of the CIF State Division I Southern California Championships.
Corona del Mar (32-4) will play at Los Alamitos on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
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OCVarsity Hot Shots: State volleyball playoffs
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"We had a great practice (Monday)," Corona del Mar coach Marissa Booker said. "We were ready to go.
"This was a funky game, both teams lost a key player to injury and the momentum shifted back and forth."
The Sea Kings' Kelsey Humphreys injured her ankle in the second game. Torrey Pines had the lead, 11-10.
Watching their teammate hobble off the court seem to stagger Corona del Mar and it fell behind, 17-11. The Sea Kings rallied to get close, but still dropped the game, 25-23.
Humphreys had her right ankle re-taped and was ready again in game three.
"Kelsey is a fighter," Booker said. "She's one of those players that is going to give everything she had. She came up to me before the fifth game and said she would come out if I thought someone could do better than her."
In the first and fourth games, won by Corona del Mar, the team used its height advantage to disrupt the Falcons (27-9). Also in the fourth game, Torrey Pines lost its best player, Gigi Crespo, when she smashed her right knee into the net stand.
In the deciding game, Corona del Mar trailed, 11-6, before rallying on the serving of Humphreys and Katie Senske to battle back for a 19-17 victory. There were four match points in the game, with each team failing twice until freshman Hayley Hodson smashed home the game-winner.
Hodson finished with 13 kills, while Grace Kennedy led the way with 18 kills. Britton Taylor added 15 kills. Mary McKinnon had 21 assists and three aces.
"Even when we were down by five (11-6), we knew we had it," McKinnon said. "We're a comeback team and we knew had one more comeback in us."
Jennie Frager had 15 kills and Savannah Rennie added 10 kills for Torrey Pines.
