CdM swept in final

Bryce Alderton

In this season’s CIF Southern Section Division III-A girls volleyball

playoffs, Corona del Mar High has known nothing other than two words:

three games.

The Sea Kings were the victors the first three times but Bishop

Montgomery reversed the roles in a 25-21, 25-17, 28-26 win in the

Division III-A final Friday night at Cypress College.

The top-seeded Knights (24-8) capitalized on their third match

point in a back-and-forth third game to win their second consecutive

Division III-A crown.

CdM (21-9), the No. 2 seed, had one game point at 25-24 in Game 3

and had its biggest lead at 18-14 before the Knights came back.

“We played a C-plus game,” CdM Coach Bill Christiansen said. “We

came out timid and didn’t swing hard. We didn’t take advantage of our

height advantage.”

CdM has five players 6-foot or taller while the Knights’ tallest

two members are both 5-11.

“We aren’t a strong and overpowering team this year,” Bishop

Montgomery Coach Kim Willeman, in her 15th year at the program’s

helm, said. “But this was not our best match tonight.”

Senior Mackenzie Conover, one of CdM’s captains, tallied two kills

and concurred with Christiansen’s assessment.

“We were all excited to play the match, I didn’t feel any

pressure,” Conover said. “It took awhile for us to show up. We needed

to swing harder.”

CdM, playing its first section final since 1997, twice led by one

point in the first game. The Sea Kings’ next lead came at 6-5 in the

third game after senior middle blocker Victoria Rice tallied two

blocks in succession, the latter counting for the point.

Junior middle blocker Lindsey Ensign and outside hitter Jordan

Smith then began to heat up. Ensign slammed eight of her 10 kills in

the third game, while Smith amassed six of her 11 kills in that same

span.

CdM’s crowd, which matched and occasionally bested Bishop

Montgomery’s following in cheering volume, erupted after an Ensign

kill gave the Sea Kings a 14-11 lead. Junior Breanne Ogden sprawled

on the floor for the dig to keep possession prior to Ensign’s kill.

“That was cool because our school has struggled with spirit, so it

was good to have a big crowd cheer for us,” Conover said.

The Knights, though, kept CdM’s fans subdued for much of the first

two games, riding the shoulders of sophomore outside hitter Ashley

Ferrell, who tallied a game-high 17 kills.

Ferrell was aided in the middle by four stuff blocks from freshman

setter Kelly Christian, two on consecutive points to give the Knights

a 24-17 advantage in the second game.

“We had a scouting report on [Ferrell], but she had an awesome

game off the blocks,” Conover said.

Smith tallied 16 digs while Ensign had 10 digs and three blocks to

go with 31 assists from senior setter Ashley Bill. Rice and Lauren

Snell (two kills and one service ace) each had one block. Junior

outside hitter Britta Nielsen had three kills while senior outside

hitter Valery Westhart added one kill.

“The match could have gone either way in that third game,” Nielsen

said. “I was surprised it went three games. We were equally as good

as them, we just didn’t step up when we should have.”

Both the Sea Kings and Knights will compete in the Southern

California Division III regionals of the CIF state championships

beginning Tuesday. Pairings are expected to be announced Sunday.

“The next time we play them and I hope it is soon, we will beat

them,” Christiansen said. “Too bad the final isn’t like the World

Series where it is the best-of-seven.”

Bishop Montgomery, the defending Division III champion, has

defeated CdM four of the last five years in the CIF section playoffs,

but Friday was the first time in a final.