Sea Kings find ways to win

Rick Devereux

The battle for the inside track on the Pacific Coast League boys

volleyball title between Corona del Mar High and host Laguna Beach

went down to the wire Friday.

CdM, ranked No. 3 in CIF Southern Section Division II, defeated

the Breakers, 27-25, 27-25, 25-22, who are ranked No. 4 in Division

II.

“I’m not surprised we beat them in three games,” Coach Steve Conti

said. “They could have easily beaten us in three games if one or two

points went their way.”

The Sea Kings (20-5, 6-0 in league) not only had some calls go

their way, a few calls were overturned that originally gave Laguna

Beach points.

CdM opened up a small lead in the first game, but the Breakers

thought they had pulled to 13-11 on an illegal contact call. After a

discussion with the side referee, the head referee whistled for the

point to played again.

On the ensuing play, senior Kevin Welch had a back row kill to

give the Sea Kings a 14-10 advantage.

Laguna Beach (14-8, 5-1) battled back to eventually tie the game

at 17-17 on a kill from middle blocker Chris Hoffman. The Breakers’

middle blockers were effective in the first game, registering seven

of the team’s 16 kills.

“I wanted to move our blockers over [to cover Laguna Beach’s

middle attack],” Conti said. “We were able to make the adjustment

late in the [first] game. [Hoffman] was their shortest blocker, but

he could jump out of the gym.”

The success in the middle opened up senior outside hitter Luke

Morris for Laguna Beach. Morris had four of the Breakers five final

kills, including attacks that brought Laguna within one point at

23-22 and gave Laguna the lead at 25-24.

Not to be outdone, CdM’s Ted Slaughter tied the game with a kill

from his middle blocker position and gave the Sea Kings a 26-25 lead

on a stuff block. Welch finished off the first game with a kill.

“It helps when you have a guy like [Kevin Welch], who was the

league MVP last year,” Conti said. “We needed a guy like that in this

match.”

Welch finished with 13 kills, 12 digs, four blocks and a service

ace.

“They really came out strong in the first game,” setter Phil

Bannan said. “We were able to settle down and make some plays when it

counted.”

Morris came out swinging in the second game, registering five

kills to give the Breakers a 7-2 lead.

The Sea Kings were able to weather the onslaught and climbed back

to make it a 17-16 game. Laguna pulled away again and looked to have

the game wrapped up at 23-19, but Conti called a timeout to get the

Breakers out of rhythm.

Laguna was called for illegal contact on consecutive plays to make

it 23-21, but Morris gave the Breakers game-point with a kill.

Following another timeout, Tom Welch, Kevin’s twin brother,

registered two kills and Shane Collins had a fortuitous service ace

that trickled over the net to tie the game at 24-24.

“Shane got the ball where we wanted and he got a lucky break on

that ace,” Conti said. “We’ll take any breaks that come our way.”

Another lucky break happened on the ensuing play when a call

originally giving Laguna Beach game point was reversed because of a

back-row attacker. Outside hitter Andrew Chapel’s kill would have won

the game for Laguna Beach on the next play, but it merely tied it at

25-25.

A Tom Welch kill and a shanked Breakers’ pass gave CdM the

come-from-behind victory.

“We were able to make plays down the stretch,” Conti said. “We

were able to stay with them. I give Laguna a lot of credit because we

were playing against a scrappy team.”

The third game, like the previous two, was hotly contested. CdM

managed to build an 8-5 lead, but the Breakers came back and

eventually took a 14-12 advantage. After Laguna Beach was able to

pull out to an 18-15 lead, the Sea Kings battle back take a 19-18

edge.

A Morris kill tied the game, but back-to-back hitting errors gave

CdM the lead once more. Tom Welch drove home an attack to give the

Sea Kings game point and a shanked pass gave CdM the sweep.

“For league purposes, this was a huge match,” said Tom, who

finished with a team-high 16 kills. “They could have just as easily

won this match in three games, but the breaks went our way.”