Boys volleyball: Sea Kings outlast Seahawks

Barry Faulkner

HUNTINGTON BEACH - Both host Ocean View High and Corona del Mar,

who squared off in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division

IV boys volleyball playoffs Friday, turned out to be products of their

environment.

This, as it turned out, was good news for the Sea Kings, whose rugged

schedule and similarly demanding practice regimen prepared them for the

crucial rally scoring fifth game.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks, citizens of the talent-scarce Golden West

League, who rely on scant seven-player rotation, did not play a five-game

match before Friday.

The results were predictable in an otherwise unpredictable struggle,

in which the Sea Kings “upset” the No. 3-seeded Seahawks, 15-6, 13-15,

7-15, 16-14, 15-8, to advance to Tuesday’s second round.

CdM (12-7) will host South Pasadena Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“I hate to say it, because I’m the one responsible for it,” Ocean View

Coach Jimmy Harris said after the more than two-hour marathon. “But I

think not being in better shape hurt us.”

CdM Coach Steve Conti said a lack of aggressiveness, as well as a

scrappy brand of play by the Golden West League co-champions, hurt his

chances for an easy first-round conquest.

It appeared the Sea Kings would cruise, however, after they seized a

12-1 first-game lead, then closed it out with relative ease.

“Even though we won that first game, I didn’t like the way we were

playing,” Conti said. “I thought we won because (Ocean View) just made

more mistakes than we did.”

There were plenty of mistakes, but also plenty of sterling plays on

both sides of the net, as both teams battled gamely to avoid elimination.

Ocean View (12-10), led by versatile 6-foot-3 junior setter Justin

Roth (28 assists, 16 kills, two stuff blocks and one ace serve) as well

as crafty 5-10 junior outside hitter Jeff Chapman (a team-high 17 kills),

won a hard-fought second game. It then rolled to an 8-1 lead en route to

capturing the third game, much to the delight of the Seahawk rooters.

Conti credited Chapman and Roth, as well as the rest of the visitors,

for pushing the Sea Kings to the brink of elimination. But he also said

his players reacted tentatively when Ocean View seized the momentum.

Thanks largely to senior middle blocker Ryan Inman, CdM was able to

respond after falling behind in the fourth game, 4-1 and 8-4.

“Ocean View played hard and scrappy and put our backs to the wall,”

Conti said. “We got kind of tight and played a little tentatively, but I

think Ryan Inman finally turned it around. He banged a couple balls and

got us going.”

The 6-foot-4 senior hammered a quick set to pull CdM within 10-8, then

pounded five more of his match-high 18 kills to help CdM take the fourth

game and pull even in the match.

After an Inman kill broke a 14-14 tie, a pancake dig by junior Miles

Yourman led to a Spencer Miller set and a Kevin Welch kill to force the

fifth game.

With rally scoring (a point on every serve) in effect, the two teams

split the first 10 points. But CdM scored seven of the next eight to

lead, 12-6, then closed it out. Another pancake dig, this time by senior

John Grod, led to the clinching point and a collective sigh of relief for

CdM, attempting to advance to its sixth straight section title match.

“I hope this is a wake-up call for us,” Conti said.

Welch, who sat all of the first game and the early part of the second,

wound up with 12 kills, as did Yourman. Eric Jones, a 6-6 junior middle

blocker, had nine kills.

Inman added a pair of stuff blocks and two service winners, while Grod

finished with eight kills.