SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : Edison Gets Going Late to Upend Corona del Mar

Edison High School didn’t seem to be in too much of a rush to beat Corona del Mar in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 4-A boys’ volleyball tournament Friday night.

But once the Chargers got going, they rolled to a 9-15, 15-9, 16-14, 15-8 victory over the Sea Kings at the Corona del Mar gym.

The Chargers (16-1) won their 12th consecutive match by rallying from early deficits in the final three games. They advance to Friday night’s semifinals against Santa Barbara. Corona del Mar ended the season at 10-6.

“I don’t know what it was,” Edison Coach Brian Rofer said. “We came out slow and fundamentally we just fell apart. It was an off-night for us.

“Corona del Mar came out and did everything well. I think we were surprised. I think we overlooked Corona del Mar.”

Edison, ranked second in 4-A behind Mira Costa, appeared to work out its problems in the third game, fighting back from game point, 14-13. A block by Karl Van Reusen, a kill by sophomore Joe McCarthy and a hitting error by Corona del Mar’s Carter Reese gave the Chargers a 16-14 victory.

“We had a great shot at it,” Corona del Mar Coach Charlie Brande said. “But there were a couple of times where we didn’t go after them. We had them game point in the third game and we hit it out a couple of times.”

Edison trailed, 5-3, early in the fourth game. But a 9-0 Edison run, keyed by six Corona del Mar hitting errors and two ace serves by Steve Snyder, sealed the match. Snyder also finished with 15 kills.

“Steve’s jump serve was on for the last game,” Rofer said. “Our serving was bad most of the match, but he came in and ran up some points.”

Brande said his players “lost a lot of composure” in the last game.

“After they pulled the third game out,” he said, “I knew it would be tough to come back.”

Van Reusen typified Edison’s early problems. He had only one kill in the first game and struggled with his jump serve, but had 13 kills by the end of the match. Edison had 14 service errors in the match, including eight in the first two games.

“Our serving was off,” Rofer said, “and we live and die by the serve.

“Karl came out a little too pumped up. They (players) had to calm themselves down.”

Brande said his game plan was to hit at Van Reusen, a 6-foot-5 middle blocker who has signed with Cal State Long Beach.

Daryl Ayers had 12 kills and McCarthy and Jason Curry added 11 each for Edison. Sophomore Doug Hesse had 18 kills, Clark Brogger nine and Reese eight for Corona del Mar.

In another 4-A quarterfinal match:

Santa Barbara 3, Woodbridge 1--Woodbridge (16-3) had trouble getting the ball past Santa Barbara’s middle blockers and lost, 15-11, 15-3, 15-17, 15-11. Nathaniel Haugh had 19 kills and Scott Seymour added 16 for host Woodbridge (16-3).

In a 2-A quarterfinal match:

Canyon Country 3, Santa Margarita 0--Rick Phillips had 15 kills and Kevin Sathre added 13 to lead Canyon (15-1) to a 15-8, 15-11, 15-12 victory over Santa Margarita (16-5).