Sea Kings, Breakers Take Crosstown Game Inland for CIF Final

The nine Corona del Mar seniors milled around, not wanting to leave the court for possibly the last time as Sea Kings volleyball players. They had achieved what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the 2011 season — make the finals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 Championship, Saturday (4:30 p.m.) at Cypress College.

The players were having fun reliving a season in which they won 28 of 33 times, took another Pacific Coast League title, and won their biggest game of the season to date in a thrilling five-game victory over Newport Harbor in the regular-season finale.

Suddenly, a good 20 minutes after the final kill by Brennan Anderson sealed the Sea Kings' semifinal victory over Trabuco Hills in three routine games, Coach Steve Conti turned to one of his assistants and asked, “Did Laguna win?”

“Yes,” came the reply.

Celebration over. Back to work.

For the 52nd time in best-of-five meetings between the neighboring rivals, Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach will play a volleyball match; the Sea Kings hold a 29-22 edge.

For the 10th time, both teams are in the sectioin finals.

For the eighth time, the two schools from small beach communities, just a few miles apart, will meet in the playoffs. The Sea Kings hold a slim 4-3 advantage.

And for the seventh time, one of the schools will win a CIF Southern Section title, breaking a tie with the other and Mira Costa at six.

But for the first time, Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach will meet in the finals.

Game on.

“This is our other ‘crosstown’ rival to the south. It’s going to be exciting,” said Conti, who has defeated the Breakers twice this season, in the O.C. Championships and in a nonleague game at Laguna Beach within a span of four days in March. “They are kind of a frustrating team, but they also are a pretty balanced team. They have a great outside hitter in Alex Burk and a superstar at opposite hitter in Robbie McKnight.”

Laguna Beach (20-10) is always a difficult team to figure out before playoff time. The Breakers won another Orange Coast League title without dropping any of their 30 games, but the league opponents generally are inferior to Laguna Beach, so against other teams they are a .500 team and lost 10 of their last 14 nonleague games.

Come playoff time, Coach Lance Stewart and his players know how to turn it on. As the No. 2 seed, the Breakers earned a first-round bye, then defeated Arroyo Grande, followed by Irvine in the quarterfinals as junior outside hitter Austin Hilleman had 14 kills. In the semifinals, McKnight put on the performance of the year with 41 kills in 74 attempts and 12 unforced errors to upend Beckman in four games. McKnight scored the final three points, including match point when he tapped the ball over a block attempt and hit the sideline. Jack Winn had 52 assists against Beckman.

The defending Division 2 champions also have a 13-game playoff win streak.

“No matter who we’re playing in the finals, it’s going to be really exciting,” said junior Parker Brown, the Sea Kings’ top hitter this season.

Corona del Mar (28-5) has been the 800-pound gorilla on the court. It can beat you every which way but loose. Seniors Evan Dean, Brennan Anderson, Spencer Haly at middleblocker and Nick Curci at setter are imposing at the net, while Parker Brown and Jack Reed, Remy Lamons at middleblocker and Joe Ctvrtlik at setter may be the best juniors on any team. Chip Zucker at libero adds the final touch.

The Sea Kings won another Pacific Coast League title at 10-0, losing only twice in 30 games against relatively weaker league opponents. Unlike the Breakers, however, they played several tough games leading up to the playoffs, such as those in the Santa Barbara tournament and the "Battle of the Bay" game against Newport Harbor.

The 2½-hour match against the Sailors became an instant classic as the Sea Kings won the fifth game, 15-10. While Corona del Mar disposed of Hart, Aliso Niguel and Trabuco Hills in the playoffs, it was the victory over their traditional cross-town rival Sailors that got the Sea Kings in playoff mode.

“That match definitely helped us get ready for the playoffs,” Conti said. “Just playing in that environment, it was like [the] CIF [playoffs] every minute. Winning against a team like that going into the playoffs gave us a lot of confidence.”

Whether that will be enough, only Corona and Laguna will know for sure.