Two postseasons, four meetings and no victories.
Corona del Mar has had a rough go of late with Redlands East Valley and Krista Vansant.
Redlands East Valley defeated Corona del Mar in the CIF-SS Division 2-AA championship match and Division 2 state girls volleyball playoffs the past two Novembers. Vansant is back for her senior season and the teams move up to 1-A this year.
“We base a lot of things off those matches,” Corona del Mar senior middle blocker Claire Ham said. “We remember the losing and coming in second. It makes us push that much harder.
“We have the same goal, to win CIF. We are tired of being second.”
Click here for a breakdown of the top players and teams for the 2010 season.
In part, Corona del Mar is counting on what it didn’t have a year ago – a bigger, stronger and more physical Morgan Boukather. The senior is moving from opposite to her natural position of outside hitter.
After a strong club season, the team is expecting a big season from the three-year varsity player who has verbally committed to Stanford.
“She looks to be another force,” Corona del Mar coach Darryl Gan said. “She’s just as explosive with a little more control and understanding. We are going to be using her as much as we can.”
Boukather emerged as a threat on the right side last season for Corona del Mar and should flourish as the team’s primary weapon. Her summer breakthrough was mostly getting comfortable in her skin.
At 6-foot-1, Boukather said “my coordination finally caught up with my body.”
“As a freshman on the frosh/soph team, no one saw her coming,” Ham said. “Then she started killing balls. Each year you could see her progressing. She wants it bad.”
For Ham, Boukather and the other eight seniors, it’s the last season to beat Redlands East Valley with Vansant. The fact is hardly lost on Boukather.
The teams could have faced off during the annual Queens Court preseason tournament hosted by Foothill, but didn’t end up meeting.
“I wanted to play them so bad,” Boukather said. “I want to play them in the final.”
Despite the motivation a shot at Redlands East Valley provides, Corona del Mar is savvy enough to understand a rematch is not guaranteed. But in case it needed a reminder, it received one in the Queens Tournament.
Corona del Mar lost to Laguna Beach, which is also in Division 1-A, preventing a match with Redlands East Valley.
“We’ll be excited if we face them again,” Boukather said of the Breakers. “We lost to them last year, too. We’ll be ready.”
Corona del Mar starts as the county’s preseason No. 1 team, but being the competition is stiff this year, it would not surprise to see numerous teams occupy the top spot throughout the season.
Teams like Orange Lutheran, Mater Dei, Edison and San Clemente, considered young last season, are grown up. Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos were the class of the county last season and could end up being it again.
The clues will come quickly.
The first week includes No. 1 Corona del Mar at Mater Dei and No. 4 Orange Lutheran at No. 6 Edison. The Dave Mohs is the following week and features all preseason top 10 teams.
As it is, Corona del Mar begins the chase in front.
“We definitely have a ton of talent,” Gan said. “There’s no doubt about that. You put that with our experience and it puts us in a good position.”
