SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL : It’s Business as Usual for Corona del Mar

Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach finally met in the much-awaited high school volleyball match of the season Saturday night, but the result was the same as always for the Sea Kings.

Just another three-game sweep.

Top-seeded Corona del Mar, top-ranked in USA Today’s national poll, dominated third-seeded Laguna Beach for a 15-1, 15-13, 15-12 victory in the Southern Section Division I championship match at Cerritos College.

Corona del Mar (20-0) is 81-5 in games played this season, including tournaments, and finished the section tournament 12-1, losing only one game to fourth-seeded Santa Barbara in Thursday night’s semifinals.

“We still didn’t play our best tonight,” Corona del Mar Coach Lance Stewart said. “Our left-side attack wasn’t what it (once) was.”

Still, it was good enough.

Jennifer Stroffe had 15 kills and middle blocker Allison Englebrecht added five kills and five blocks for Corona del Mar, which won its second section title in three years.

And the Sea Kings won with defense. They shut down Laguna Beach outside hitter Rachel Wacholder, who had 55 kills in a five-game semifinal victory over Newport Harbor.

Wacholder finished with a team-high 14 kills but had to hit over a huge Corona del Mar block that forced her to make eight hitting errors.

“We didn’t care about blocking her,” Stewart said. “We just wanted to get a big block in front of her. She had to tip a few, and she hit a few out. We got her a bit frustrated. She had an off night. She’s a great player.

“Laguna has a good supporting cast, but they rely a lot on one person (Wacholder). And we’re too good a team to let one person beat us.”

Laguna Beach Coach Michael Soylular said his players “came out flat.”

“We had no intensity,” he said. “We weren’t ready to play, period. We were asleep all night.”

Corona del Mar cruised in the first game, scoring the final 12 points. Englebrecht, Stroffe and Newcomer each had three kills.

Laguna Beach managed to side-out only eight times in the game and struggled to hit over Corona del Mar’s big block of Kim Coleman and Allison Englebrecht.

The Artists came back strong in the second game, building leads of 9-6, 12-8 and 13-11 behind strong play by Wacholder and Hilary Kyle.

But Stroffe had two kills and Laguna Beach’s Anne Swayne hit the ball out to give Corona del Mar a 14-13 lead.

Then, on match point, Soylular was called for an illegal substitution, giving Corona del Mar the winning point.

Swayne started playing well in the third game, taking some of the heat off Wacholder and helping Laguna Beach to a 12-5 lead.

But the Sea Kings came back, again, and in a big way. Stroffe pounded the final two kills to cap a 10-0 run.

The victory was a rewarding one for the team, which began the season ranked 11th in the state.

It also meant a lot to Stewart, a former Laguna Beach coach in his first year at Corona del Mar.

After the match, Stroffe approached Stewart with the championship plaque.

“Coach, you want this or do you want me to hang on to it?” she asked.

“You keep it,” he answered. “And don’t lose it.”