SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar Players Ready for the Final Match Their a Long Volleyball Rivalry : The Party’s Finally Over

The ties that have bound many of them together will finally be broken tonight. On the last point, in the last game of the Southern Section 4-A boys’ volleyball semifinal match between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar high schools an era will come to an end.

The key players for each school have played against each other since the seventh grade.

That group includes Matt Cwiertnia, Matt Herrington, Chris Pliha and setter Ty Price from Corona del Mar (14-2). From Laguna Beach (19-1), the list includes Sean Stafford, arguably the best high school volleyball player in Southern California, John McKeown, Jonathan Cummings, Dain Blanton and setter Pat Quigley.

In the eighth grade, playing for their respective club teams, they played for a national junior championship. Two years later, they faced each other again in a title game.

They have played memorable matches in high school. Laguna Beach won a four-game, three-hour match several weeks ago in the team’s only meeting of the regular season.

At 7:30 tonight at Newport Harbor High School, it will end for these players.

With the talent both teams possess, the chances are that some of these players will meet in college. But it will never be like this again.

“It’s going to be great,” said Charlie Brande, Corona del Mar’s coach. “The first thing the kids said after we won (Corona del Mar defeated Edison in three games in the quarterfinals) was that this was going to be the match of their lives. The most important match they have ever played.”

Besides the obvious significance of a trip to Saturday’s final at Marina High, tonight’s match is the chance to get the ultimate last word in.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t care who we play,” said Lance Stewart, Laguna Beach’s coach. “But it’s obvious that this match has meaning for both teams deep down. It’s like the Lakers playing the Celtics. We know exactly what each is going to do, there will be no surprises.”

There figures to be plenty of excitement, however. Newport Harbor High is just minutes away from both campuses.

“You won’t be able to squeeze another person in there once the match gets started,” Stewart said.

Even Dan Glenn, whose Newport Harbor team plays Mira Costa at Corona del Mar in the other semifinal, realizes that the Laguna Beach-Corona del Mar match is something special.

“It’s going to be a real rock and roller,” Glenn said.

Laguna Beach has been the No. 1-ranked team in Orange County for all but one week this season. That one week the top position was held by Corona del Mar. Each team is laden with seniors. All six Corona del Mar starters are seniors, five Laguna Beach starters are seniors.

“Having experience like that is a tremendous advantage against most teams,” Brande said. “But not against Laguna Beach. They’re just as experienced as us. We’re practically the same team.”

They’ve had plenty of chances to get each other’s mannerisms down.

The key players from Laguna Beach, then playing for the Laguna Beach Volleyball Club, played their counterparts at Corona del Mar, then playing for the Balboa Bay Club, in the national juniors championship for eighth-graders.

Laguna Beach won that match.

Two years later, the two clubs met in another juniors’ national championship match--this time with practically all of the players who make up both high school teams. Balboa Bay won the rematch.

It’s not surprising that current Laguna Beach players consider Corona del Mar their top rivals, even though the two play in different leagues.

“We always want to beat Corona del Mar most of all,” Stafford said.

Tonight they’ll get their last chance.

Newport Harbor, which entered the playoffs as the No. 3 team out of the Sea View League, plays Mira Costa, the top-seeded team in 4-A.

Newport Harbor beat Mira Costa in a one-game match during the quarterfinals of the Redondo tournament several weeks ago.

“That’s good and it’s bad,” Glenn said. “Our guys know they can beat them, but I think we’ve taken away any element of surprise against a great team.”

Newport Harbor has gone five games its past two matches, including Tuesday’s come-from-behind, 15-13, 12-15, 9-15, 15-8, 15-12 victory over Woodbridge.

“Mira Costa hasn’t gone five games all year,” Glenn said. “We’d like to push them into a position where they haven’t been. We figure if we get them there, anything can happen.”