CdM rallies to win

Richard Dunn

The road to the Pacific Coast League girls volleyball championship

seemed remarkable similar to another series happening this week up

the freeway.

“This is like (Sunday’s) Game 2 of the World Series,” one fan said

Monday night during host Corona del Mar High’s riveting five-game PCL

victory over Northwood, 15-9, 10-15, 18-16, 13-15, 15-11, which gave

the Sea Kings (12-7, 5-0 in the PCL) the inside track to the league

title.

The two teams -- Northwood (13-6, 4-1) was ranked No. 8 in Orange

County last week, while CdM was unranked -- will square off again

Nov. 7 at Northwood.

CdM, which had been 0-for-3 in five-game matches this season,

staved off five game points in the third game, after rallying from a

14-9 deficit, to win an overtime thriller, 18-16.

“What’s huge about it,” CdM Coach Bill Christiansen said, “is that

we’re a young team, with six sophomores and five juniors who play

with a lot of heart, but haven’t been in super tough varsity

competition like this. Not only did they play with heart, but they

showed poise, too.”

With no one to physically match up with Northwood’s big three

front line of 6-foot-1 Aabria Lipscomb and 6-footers Laura Black and

Alex Fell, the Sea Kings, seemingly matching the emotions of the

previous night’s unbelievable 11-10 Angels World Series win, found

other ways to win.

“I thought Corona del Mar played with a lot of enthusiasm. Those

girls got after it,” Northwood Coach John Gaido said. “I thought (the

Sea Kings) played hard. We couldn’t put them away. They kept climbing

back ... we knew they were the team to beat coming in. I think we’re

right there with them. The road to the league title goes through

them.”

Corona del Mar was led by Claire Allen’s 24 kills, Alissa Zoelle’s

28 digs and Britta Nielsen’s four service aces in the third and

fourth games (two in each game), while Lindsay Ensign (15 kills) and

Jordan Smith (14) rarely missed when receiving sets from Ashley Bill.

“To pull this match out, it’s a huge win,” Christiansen said of

the back-and-forth match, which included a CdM comeback in the fourth

game, only for the hosts to come up short, 15-13, after rallying from

a 13-9 deficit.

In the match-turning third game, Northwood served for the game at

14-9, but MacKenzie Conover returned a ball lightly over the net to

give the Sea Kings a sideout and thwart their first game point. Two

serves later, they turned away their second game point.

Later, with Northwood serving at 14-12, a long serve gave CdM a

third life, then a Northwood return into the net provided the Sea

Kings with another chance.

The Sea Kings, who tied the game at 14, faced a fifth game point

when Northwood served at 15-14, but Conover’s kill kept her team

alive again, then the hosts fed off the momentum and scored the next

two points on kills by Nielsen and Conover.

Northwood tied it at 16, but Conover’s kill dump gave Corona del

Mar a sideout, then Nielsen scored high at the net on a one-hit

return and Zoelle put the Wolverines away with a service winner.

Both teams exchanged leads so frequently, there was no doubt this

match was a battle of the league’s two unbeaten squads coming into

the affair before a sparse crowd.

After CdM led in the fourth game, 7-6, Northwood’s scored the

game’s next six points for a 12-7 edge, then the Sea Kings rallied

again to tie it, 13-13, before the Wolverines’ blocking got the best

of the smaller Sea Kings.

In the fifth game, the Sea Kings never trailed, but had slim 8-7

and 12-10 leads, before winning by four.