Southern Section Volleyball Playoffs : No. 3 Edison Draws Tough First-Round Match

The Edison High School boys’ volleyball team went 15-1 overall this season and tied for the Sunset League championship with Marina at 9-1. For their troubles, the Chargers were seeded No. 3 in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs and must play a troublesome opponent in their first-round match at home tonight.

Edison will play Corona del Mar, one of the 4-A’s hottest teams. Corona del Mar, which tied for the Sea View League championship, entered the playoffs as the league’s No. 2 team.

Corona del Mar has won 10 straight matches, including a 12-15, 15-4, 15-3, 15-13 victory over Laguna Hills on Tuesday in the wild-card match that qualified the Sea Kings for the first round.

“We sure didn’t think we’d get a team like them in the first round,” Dave Mohs, Edison assistant coach, said. “We were hoping we wouldn’t have anyone that tough that early.”

Edison’s team is taller than Corona del Mar’s, with 6-foot 5-inch middle hitter Brian Boone, who has signed a national letter of intent to attend UCLA, and left-side hitters Mark Pesho (6-6) and Darren Lance (6-3). Tom Schrider, one of Corona del Mar’s tallest players at 6-4, injured his left knee Sunday and is sidelined.

Edison defeated Corona del Mar in five sets in the teams’ only meeting this season.

“That match came down to passing and serving, real fundamentals,” Mohs said. “Corona del Mar is real strong in the fundamentals. If we’re going to beat them, we’ll have to be.”

In other 4-A matches involving county teams, Marina (Sunset, No. 2) plays at San Marcos (Channel, No. 1); Rolling Hills (Bay, No. 2) plays at Newport Harbor (Sea View, No. 1); Huntington Beach (Sunset, No. 3) plays at Woodbridge (Pacific Coast, No. 1); Mira Costa (Ocean, No. 2) plays at Dana Hills (South Coast, No. 1), and Laguna Beach (Pacific Coast, No. 2) plays at North Torrance (Bay, No. 1).

In the 3-A, Redondo (Pioneer, No. 3) plays at La Quinta (Garden Grove, No. 1); Bolsa Grande (Garden Grove, No. 2) plays at Whittier Christian (Whitmont, No. 2); Mater Dei (Angelus, No. 2) plays at St. Bernard (Camino Real, No. 1); Garden Grove (Garden Grove, No. 3) plays at Los Altos (Whitmont, No. 1).