REGIONAL DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : Corona del Mar Girls’ Wait for State Is Over

After toying with defeat in the first two rounds of the Southern California Regional Division I girls’ volleyball playoffs, Corona del Mar High School wasn’t about to risk a long-awaited trip to the state finals Tuesday night.

Lara Carlsen had 13 kills and six aces to lead the top-seeded Sea Kings to a 15-3, 15-11, 12-15, 15-8 victory over unseeded San Jose Lynbrook in the regional finals at Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings (27-1) advanced to Saturday’s state finals at Cal Poly Pomona, where they will play Mountain View St. Francis, which Tuesday night eliminated Torrey Pines. It will be Corona del Mar’s first appearance in the state finals since winning the title in 1984.

“This is great, I can’t believe it,” said Carlsen, a senior middle blocker. “We’ve been waiting for a chance (at the state title). We always knew we’d have our senior year to do it.”

Corona del Mar extended its winning streak to 25 matches and avenged a loss to Lynbrook in last year’s regional final. Michelle Wagner had 16 kills to lead Lynbrook (30-6).

The Sea Kings played error-free in all but one stretch of the third game, when they blew a 12-7 lead.

“We got close and we backed off a little,” Sea King Coach Dale Flickinger said. “Lynbrook had its back to the wall and started to serve a little tougher. Even then, I didn’t think we were in danger of losing. We were in control all the way.”

Corona del Mar struggled with poor passing and hitting errors in victories over Notre Dame Academy and Poway in the first two rounds.

Flickinger said he expected the letdown in the early rounds because the Sea Kings were coming off winning the Southern Section 5-A title the previous week.

“Last night in practice I saw that our old team is back,” Flickinger said. “The one from last week is gone. I think we just needed a few days to recuperate after celebrating the (Southern Section) win.”

Trailing, 3-1, Corona del Mar went on a 14-0 run to win the first game. Carlsen and middle blocker Tahlia Wagner each had two kills in the streak.

In the second game, Corona del Mar built leads of 5-0 and 14-7 before holding off a Lynbrook comeback.