Breakers triumph in 4

LAGUNA BEACH — Riddle of the Sphinx it’s not, but that didn’t make another loss to Laguna Beach High any easier to swallow for the Corona del Mar girls’ volleyball team.

There was no mystery in the loss for CdM coach Bill Christiansen. He knew why the Breakers, once again, came out on top.

“We had too many netting errors [hitting the ball into the net and being called for net violations] and too many serving errors,” Christiansen said.

Monday night, after losing to Laguna Beach again, this time in four games, the girls huddled in a corner for a post-match talk with Christiansen that lasted until most of the gym was cleared out. When they finally dispersed, it was with ruddy faces and red eyes.

Try telling them the 24-26, 25-23, 25-18, 25-16 loss was just a game.

“That was actually short,” Christiansen said. “Some of us talk for 15 or 20 minutes. That was short. I just told them it was our errors that allowed Laguna to feel real comfortable, and Laguna’s a real good team. If you allow them to be comfortable, they’re going to beat you.”

The Corona del Mar girls (15-10-1, 4-0 in the Pacific Coast League), ranked No. 2 in the Southern Section Division II, trail only the 14-7 Breakers in Division II. Laguna Beach is 3-0 in the Orange Coast League.

They played second fiddle to the Breakers last year. Laguna Beach defeated the Sea Kings, 25-21, 25-17, 25-12, in the Southern Section Division II final at Cypress College.

The Breakers got the best of the Sea Kings again just a week later, winning in four games, 25-27, 25-22, 25-16, 25-16, when the two teams met in the CIF state playoffs.

There might have not been as much riding on this regular-season match, but it was still an emotional contest. For CdM, walking away from former Pacific Coast League rival Laguna Beach leaves a sting almost as bad as losing to Back Bay rival Newport Harbor.

“They’re a team that we really want to beat,” said junior middle blocker Conley Kipp, who finished with 10 kills. “Like one of our two big [matches] that we really get amped up for. It’s disappointing, but we’re probably going to see them again soon in CIF, so we’ll just bring it next time.”

The Sea Kings stuck with the Breakers for the first game, enough to win, 24-26, on a kill by senior opposite hitter Chelsea Dalton.

The Sea Kings weren’t far behind, either, in Game 2, which ended on a kill by junior outside hitter Piper Obradovich.

“We knew they were going to be a good team and they were going to have some good players and they were going to play hard the whole time,” Kipp said. “We have potential, and we just didn’t play our best match. We played well. They played well. It was just a loss.”

But Corona del Mar had trouble generating offense in Game 3, and trailed by as many as eight points.

“For [Games 1 and 2] we had a lot more fire and a lot more energy,” Kipp said. “I think [Games 3 and 4] we just kind of gave up. We didn’t have any more energy, and we were trying but we just weren’t getting it, and it kept making us so frustrated that just play after play kept getting a little worse.”

Sophomore setter Madie Smith finished with 37 assists, and defensive specialist Ashley Pries had 21 digs.

“We started netting more and serving [the ball out] more,” Christiansen said. “But we were even doing that in the second game, too.

“We should have won the second game also, but again, I think we had 12 unforced errors.

“It’s a learning experience for us. We’re still rebuilding our team, and obviously one of the areas we have to work on is controlling our hands around the net.”

Senior outside hitter Kara Chatham and sophomore middle blocker Amanda Nickel each finished with two blocks.

It doesn’t matter that Christiansen and Laguna Beach Coach Lance Stewart have had stints coaching at each other’s current schools during the course of the rivalry that’s lasted for more than 30 years.

“It’s a rivalry, that on the high school level, is USC-UCLA or Stanford-UC Berkeley,” Christiansen said. “It’s a huge rivalry.”

At least for Corona del Mar, the story isn’t over. Christiansen’s voice deepened before he spoke.

“I’m hoping we’ll see them in the CIF final again.”

SORAYA NADIA MCDONALD may be reached at (714) 966-4613 or at [email protected].