CdM breaks off Beckman

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IRVINE — Corona del Mar High just returned from a break.

The Sea Kings got another one to clinch the Pacific Coast League match Tuesday. Like they really needed help after returning from spring break.

CdM hit the road and swept Beckman, 25-14, 25-18, 27-25.

The Sea Kings improved to 3-0 in league, still on top as it has been for years in boys’ volleyball. Coach Steve Conti and one of his former players tried to figure out the last time the Sea Kings dropped a league match.

Four years ago, said Kevin Welch, his senior year. It sure has been a long time.

As Conti walked off the court, he felt bad after the defending league champions won after Beckman was called for an illegal alignment on match point.

“It’s kind of a shame to see a match end in that way,” Conti said. “Stuff like that happens.”

Rules are rules and Beckman Coach Darin McBain agrees. And that the Sea Kings rule league, the first-year coach doesn’t doubt it for a minute.

CdM (14-5), ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, looks robust, getting better as the season ages.

Conti said the past couple of practices, coming during the end of spring break, have turned out to be some of the best this season. The time off from real matches appears to have benefited the Sea Kings. They’re well rested, deep, more so than in any of Conti’s 14 years at CdM.

Seventeen players contribute. The Patriots, which came into the match undefeated in league, played almost three versions of CdM. Conti said the Sea Kings have featured about a dozen different lineups.

All can play at any time. You have your big hitters in Weston Nielsen (11 kills) and UC Santa Barbara-bound senior Dylan Davis (nine kills), the distributors in Connor Bannan and Michael Ensign, who contributed to many of those blasts by Nielsen and Davis.

In the first two games Tuesday, the Patriots (16-7, 1-1 in league) saw a variety of looks. They fell behind each time.

Somehow Beckman put up a fight in Game 3. At one point, they led by as many as six points. Beckman had game point, up 24-22, until its next three shots went into the net, wide, and out of play, in that order.

At the end, one player removed himself out from the court and it hurt Beckman.

“My opposite was standing on the out-of-bounds line when the ball was served,” McBain said of the infraction. “I hate losing on a call like that. I’d love to get the chance to side-out and see if we can extend the match a little bit.”

The two programs meet again Thursday, this time at CdM.

After the match, the Sea Kings plan to travel to Santa Barbara, not for another break, but a premier tournament, the two-day Karch Kiraly Tournament of Champions at Santa Barbara High.

The Sea Kings took third place at the event last year. Conti isn’t looking too far ahead because Beckman can pose problems if Paul Goodman gets going. He finished with 17 kills Tuesday.

“We’ve got to really focus on these guys because we got them Thursday and then we leave Thursday night for Santa Barbara,” said Conti, unsure who the Sea Kings open the tournament with because he’s locked in on the Patriots.

“The way the schedule is we both had spring break at the same time last week. The other schools in our league were playing last week. It just kind of works out that way. It’s not an ideal thing to play a [league] team [like Beckman] twice in one week, but it’s better than [not] playing.”

Break time is over. CdM is back and ready to continue beating everyone in league.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].