STATE DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Corona del Mar Gets Job Done in Fourth Game

It wasn’t so much a question that Corona del Mar High School would beat Mountain View St. Francis in the State Division I girls’ volleyball championship game Saturday night.

The question was when .

The Sea Kings blew a 6-2 lead in the third game and needed seven match points in the fourth for a 15-3, 15-5, 11-15, 15-8 victory at Cal Poly Pomona.

“That team just wouldn’t go away,” Corona del Mar Coach Dale Flickinger said of St. Francis.

Corona del Mar (28-1) won its second state title since 1984 and extended its winning streak to 26 matches.

Outside hitter Tracy Schriber had 13 kills and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Joining her on the all-tournament team were teammates Lara Carlsen (14 kills), Stacy Petersen (12 kills) and Prentice Perkins (42 assists). Brita Schwerm came off the bench to lead St. Francis (29-2) with 19 kills.

Corona del Mar’s hitting percentage of .354 set the State Division I record, breaking the previous mark of .350 set last year by Mira Costa.

After winning the first two games, the Sea Kings appeared ready for a sweep, leading, 6-2, in the third game. But St. Francis capitalized on eight Corona del Mar hitting errors and six kills by Schwerm to win the game.

The Sea Kings were better prepared in the fourth game as they raced to a 14-0 lead. But again St. Francis came back, fighting off six match points and cutting the deficit to 14-8. The match ended on the seventh match point, when St. Francis committed a hitting error.

Carlsen said the Sea Kings were nervous in the fourth game. “It was so hard to do it at the end,” she said. “I was dizzy I was so overwhelmed.”

The victory capped a somewhat frustrating season for the Sea Kings. Their coach, Charlie Brande, was suspended in August in the wake of a Southern Section investigation into his coaching of club-team players with high school eligibility remaining.

Brande said Saturday his hearing before the Southern Section had been postponed indefinitely.

The Sea King players dedicated their victory over Mira Costa in the Southern Section 5-A final to Brande. They were thinking of him during Saturday’s victory, too.

“The thing with Charlie made us stronger,” Carlsen said.