In Fact, Corona del Mar Belongs at No. 1

Those looking for an exact, detailed analysis of how and why Corona del Mar’s girls’ volleyball team came to be the No. 1-ranked team in the nation this season might as well flip ahead to the funnies right here and now.

That’s right. Go ahead. Get out of here.

The rest of us are going to mull over a couple of more popular theories.

Theory No. 1: Corona del Mar, lollygagging as the nation’s No. 11 team in early-season rankings, zoomed to the top of the charts--those of Volleyball Monthly magazine and USA Today--after winning a prestigious tournament in Chicago the first week of October.

The Sea Kings trounced many of the nation’s best, then reportedly capped their weekend by knocking off the Chicago Bulls in three games. (Michael Jordan, the girls discovered, can’t block to save his life.)

Wait. It gets weirder. The CdM contingent--and this is no lie--experienced a harmonic convergence of sorts one night in the heart of Chicago. It seems the Corona del Mar girls piled into four taxis, rode to their destination, then all disembarked be-bopping to the same musical beat.

Turns out each of the four drivers played the same cassette tape--a compilation of popular disco tunes from India. “No one could understand a word,” Coach Lance Stewart says. “But we all liked the rhythm.”

The team has been cosmically linked ever since.

Theory No. 2: The Sea Kings, who last season finished a dismal 13-7 overall, simply decided to get it together this year. They decided to stop bickering over playing time, fretting about who’s setting whom.

Now those familiar with girls’ volleyball know that any team worth its warm-ups has to spend at least a week or two in total dissension. It’s just the nature of the sport. Putting six talented players on the same court is like having six teen-age girls share the same clothes closet. You have to expect some arguments.

But this year’s Corona del Mar team managed to work all that out by, oh, midseason or so. Now they’re a pack of blocking, digging, spiking happy faces--and those behind the rankings know it.

The main characters:

Kim Coleman, a junior setter and team captain, is one of the few elite volleyball players in the county who doesn’t put volleyball first. Coleman, a quiet type, is a talented equestrian. And though most say she has the talent to play for a college powerhouse, she’s leaning toward Colorado State. Why? It has an indoor equestrian facility.

Allison Englebrecht, a senior quick hitter, is described by Stewart as a “tree-hugger.” She’s the one who warmed up for the Orange County Championships this year by picking up all the trash in the Marina High School parking lot. She likes the Grateful Dead, tie-dyed clothing and greeting cards printed on recyclable paper.

Lori Newcomer, a senior swing hitter, is a player of deceiving talents--”She kind of lulls people to sleep,” Stewart says. Juniors Kristen Campbell, Jennifer Stroffe and Catlin Pickart round out the starters. Kristen’s sister, 6-foot freshman Kelly Campbell, looks to be the Sea King setter of the future. Especially, Stewart says, once she grows into her lanky frame. “She could tread water in a test tube,” he says.

The fact that these girls play so well together is no surprise. Most have played on the same club team for years. Some believe they actually started honing their skills in preschool, batting around a beach ball while other kids vegged out in the sandbox.

Whichever the case, Stewart--29, and the school’s fourth coach in four years--has certainly been a steadying influence. The players say he has made the sport fun again. He’s a laid-back Laguna artist type who paints large, abstract landscapes--you need to locate his signature to be sure you hang his paintings right side up--who says things like, “Volleyball’s a game. There’s no need for stressin’.”

At least not until next summer. That’s when Stewart plans on putting the 1993 varsity squad through a little test. Call it Camp Survival.

“I’m dropping them off way out on Catalina Island with nothing but a handful of rice, a match and some thread,” Stewart says. “Oh, they can also take a pocket knife if they want to.”

Even though Stewart says he’s as “serious as a heart attack” on this one, there’s no need for parents out there to lose their breath. Stewart says he’s going to first put the players through a class on first aid, CPR and wilderness survival. Then they will be on their own.

It couldn’t be much worse than surviving a volleyball season. Especially as the nation’s No. 1 team.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing her at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626, or by calling (714) 966-5847.