Corona del Mar Wins State Title : Volleyball: Sea Kings, meeting Sailors for fourth time this season, win close match, 16-14, 15-8, 16-18, 9-15, 15-10.

They could have just as easily flipped a coin for this one.

Everyone in Newport Beach, including the guy who pumps gas at the corner station, figured the State Division I championship girls’ volleyball match between defending Division III champion Newport Harbor and defending Division I champion Corona del Mar at Cal State Fullerton Saturday night was a draw.

They were almost right.

But one team had to win the match, and Corona del Mar did, 16-14, 15-8, 16-18, 9-15, 15-10, in front of 2,570 at Titan Gym.

With the victory, the Sea Kings became the first team in State volleyball history to win four titles and the first Division I team to win back-to-back titles since Irvine did in 1987 and 1988.

The match also enabled Corona del Mar (31-3) to defend its unofficial national title, as the Sea Kings are top-ranked in the nation by USA Today. Newport Harbor is ranked second.

The Sea Kings were so tuned into this match against Sea View League rival Newport Beach (32-3) that they weren’t aware of their fourth victory putting them in the record books.

“Really? We didn’t know that,” senior Jennifer Stroffe said. “I’ve never put so much anger and determination into one match. To accomplish this meant so much.”

Going in, Corona del Mar had yet to win the first game of any match against Newport Harbor, but changed 1993 history with the 16-14 victory in Game 1. This was their fourth meeting.

The Sea Kings’ 7-2 lead was quickly dispensed with and Newport Harbor took 8-7 and 14-10 leads. Undaunted, Corona del Mar reeled off six points, winning the game on an off-speed kill by Kelly Campbell.

Corona del Mar took control of the second game early, never let up and were on a roll.

That wasn’t the case in the third. Just when it looked as if Newport Harbor would scurry home in three consecutive games, the Sailors came up with nothing short of what everyone expected: the Newport Harbor comeback.

The Sailors, behind a gutsy Misty May, held off two match points and pulled out the 18-16 victory in Game 3.

“Hell, we have three swings for the match in the third game, and they kept swinging,” Corona del Mar Coach Lance Stewart said.

Said Newport Harbor Coach Dan Glenn: “There was no way we were going down easy, we’re always in the match.”

With the momentum and the crowd responding uproariously to every side out, the teams played each other neck-to-neck in the fourth. Finally, Newport Harbor forced the fifth game by pulling away to take Game 4, 15-9.

In the fifth, Corona del Mar led throughout and finished it off when Kristen Campbell tipped a kill into the corner.

Shades of last year came back to pester the Sea Kings, who won the first two games, lost the next two to Laguna Beach before winning the fifth easily and with it, the 1992 State title.

“I felt tired in the first game, I knew it was going to be a long night,” senior outside hitter Kim Coleman said. “I’m just happy for my team.”

May’s 34 kills rank her second on the kill list in a State Division I championship and third in all divisions. Stroffe’s 35 digs tied the record set by Corona del Mar’s Lori Newcomer in 1992 and the Sea Kings’ 137 team digs is a state record.