CdM reaches final

Christen D’Alessandro

The Corona del Mar High boys volleyball team defeated the San Marcos

Royals in the CIF Southern Section Division II semifinals Wednesday

at Estancia, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-17.

The Royals (15-6) came out strong by winning the first game.

“I felt like it gave us confidence,” Sea Kings Coach Steve Conti

said.

CdM (26-6), the No. 2-seed, came back to sweep the next three

games. The Sea Kings never trailed in the third and fourth games.

A solid effort was put in by setter Phil Bannan with 45 assists.

Senior outside hitter Kevin Welch led the team offensively with 25

kills.

The Slaughter brothers, Ted and Scott, helped out with nine kills

each and Scott Slaughter added two blocks on defense.

Senior Tom Welch also had two blocks and added seven kills. Senior

Ben Applebee had two service aces, which were the last two points of

the match to lead the Sea Kings to victory.

“All those guys played like warriors [Wednesday night],” Conti

said. “It wasn’t something that was just given to them, they had to

earn it [Wednesday night].”

For the Royals, Jeff Menzel had 15 kills, Ed Aronchick had nine

and both Dan Grimes and Andrew Popp had six. Popp also had four

blocks.

CdM will be playing for the Division II CIF championship against

fourth-seeded Valencia of Valencia on Saturday at Cypress College at

3 p.m. Valencia knocked off CdM in the Division II semifinals last

season.