Ctvrtlik keeps No. 3 CdM rolling along
With outside hitters Patrick Pearson and Parker Brown out sick, Corona del Mar boys volleyball coach Steve Conti turned to Joe Ctvrtlik in Tuesday’s nonleague match against Laguna Beach.
Ctvrtlik, a setter, hadn’t played the position since his freshman year.
Ctvrtlik performed just fine, recording eight kills to help lead the third-ranked Sea Kings to a 25-18, 26-24, 25-17 road victory over the Breakers (7-9).
“I thought he went in and did a fantastic job,” CdM coach Steve Conti said of Ctvrtlik. “He had one to day to step out and prepare, but I know he’s a hard worker and to me that equals mental toughness.”
“I thought our sense of purpose and energy kind of dropped off in the third game, but to come here in Laguna’s gym and do what we did tonight and get out of here with a win in three (games), I’m very pleased with the way our guys battled.”
The game carried with it some playoff implications. Corona del Mar (10-2) is the top-ranked team in CIF-SS Division 2, ahead of Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach was the preseason No. 1, but it has lost seven consecutive matches.
Corona del Mar led 24-20 in the second game, but the Breakers rallied with four consecutive points to tie the game. However, Corona del Mar put the game away with two consecutive kills from middle blocker Spencer Haly.
“I thought we played well,” Haly said. “Over the weekend (at the O.C. Championships) coach said we played with a little bit of weak energy, so we really tried to step that up and I think we did.”
Laguna Beach trailed 12-11 in the third game, but the Sea Kings scored five consecutive points, three of which came off of kills by Ctvrtlik to build a 17-11 lead.
“One thing I thought we did well tonight was our consistency,” Conti said. “Other than maybe the first three or four points (in the first game), we didn’t let them get back there and get a run of points.
“That’s something we did a good job of when we were at the Best of the West, but we didn’t do as good of a job of it in Orange County (Championships) last weekend … we let some teams go back there and get some runs on us."
Robbie McKnight led the Breakers with 16 kills.
Corona del Mar will visit No. 10 Edison on Friday. Laguna Beach will try to snap its losing streak Thursday when it will be host to No. 2 Newport Harbor.
In other nonleague matches:
No. 4 Mater Dei 3, No. 6 Huntington Beach 0: John Henry led the host Monarchs (15-1) with 14 kills in 25-19, 25-23, 25-21 home victory.
Orange Lutheran 3, Valencia of Valencia 2: The Lancers lost two of the first three games, before rallying to win games four and five to take the match 26-24, 19-25, 10-25, 25-20, 15-13 on the road.
Valencia is ranked third CIF-SS Division 2.
In the Century League:
No. 5 Esperanza 3, El Modena 0: Balance was the key for the Aztecs in their 25-13, 25-17, 25-17 league opening victory against the Vanguards.
Brian Beith led the Aztecs with seven kills, John Oxnard had six and Andrew Benz and Garrett Lovelady added five apiece. Taylor Christoffers had 27 assists.
In the South Coast League:
No. 8 Dana Hills 3, Tesoro 2: The visiting Dolphins rallied with victories in games three and four to pull out a 25-21, 20-25, 20-25, 25-13, 15-8 road victory.
Christian Hessenauer led Dana Hills with 20 kills. Zach Schwaner and Bryce Yould added 14 and 13, respectively.
