Oilers Avenge Loss in Volleyball

Corona del Mar, fresh off of winning the Division I title at the Orange County Championships last weekend, didn’t keep its perfect record very long.

Unranked Huntington Beach traveled to Corona del Mar and toppled the second-ranked team in Orange County, 15-12, 4-15, 7-15, 15-11, 15-7, in a nonleague boys’ volleyball match Wednesday.

Sophomore Matt Wendt had 21 kills and 24 digs and setter Brian Markham had 59 assists, 10 digs and five blocks to lead the Oilers (3-2) to an uplifting victory over the Sea Kings (3-1).

“This match was probably a lot bigger to us than for them,” said Huntington Beach Coach Rocky Ciarelli, whose team lost in the first round of the Orange County Championships and lost to Corona del Mar in pool play of the tournament.

“We only have two kids with any significant varsity experience,” Ciarelli said. “They all played JVs last year and went 17-0, but varsity is a step up. This will help our kids, but thank God we don’t have to play Corona again.”

Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar can’t meet in the playoffs because they are in different divisions.

Corona del Mar looked like a different team Wednesday than the one that defeated top-ranked Newport Harbor in the Orange County Championships final Monday.

Greg Burden had 16 kills and 24 digs for Corona del Mar, but Huntington Beach kept the Sea Kings’ big middle blockers--6-foot-6 Greg Coon and 6-5 Dennis Alshuler--relatively quiet. Coon had 12 kills and five blocks and Alshuler had seven kills and five blocks.

“I don’t think we had an off night,” Corona del Mar Coach Steve Conti said. “But we didn’t play our best ball and good teams need to play their best every night, especially if you’re playing a good team like Huntington.”

Justin Stow had five of his 14 kills in Game 4 to help Huntington Beach take an 11-2 lead before forcing Game 5. Dave Mercier added 13 kills and 21 digs for the Oilers.