Corona del Mar boys' volleyball hangs on for five-set win over Servite

Corona del Mar's Shane Premer (23) records a kill down the line past Servite's Jackson Bolcer (1) in a nonleague match on Tuesday in Newport Beach.

By Matt SzaboStaff Writer

March 10, 2020 9:06 PM PT

Following a long tournament, there was no rest for the weary Tuesday night for the Corona del Mar High boys’ volleyball team.

Three days after finishing second in the Best of the West Invitational in San Diego, the Sea Kings hosted Servite in a nonleague match.

CdM squandered a two-set lead, but it held on for a 25-23, 27-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-8 victory.

“I think maybe we were a little bit physically and emotionally still spent from this weekend,” CdM coach Sam Stafford said. “But [the Friars] played great. They didn’t let up by any means, and their outside hitters did a great job. I thought we could have executed a little better, but they capitalized when they had opportunities, for sure.

“I figure, you get the experience of being able to pull something out when you’re not playing your best ... and maybe in the playoffs we can draw on this a little bit if we have to.”

Senior outside hitter Shane Premer led CdM (14-2), ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 and 2 poll, with 19 kills. Senior opposite Nato Dickinson had 13 kills, and seniors Justin Browning and Glen Linden had nine and seven kills, respectively.

Corona del Mar's Nato Dickinson puts away a kill between Servite's Max Colgan (17) and Peter Selcho (18) during a nonleague match on Tuesday.

Senior Cole Rasic had 25 kills for No. 13-ranked Servite (10-7). Sophomore Tetairo “T-Mac” McMillan had 21 kills.

A service ace by CdM senior Braden Conti on set point in the second set gave the Sea Kings a 2-0 advantage. But Servite stormed back. It was a kill, then block by Servite junior middle blocker Peter Selcho late in the fourth set that broke a 23-23 tie, sending the match the distance.

McMillan, then Rasic had kills on the first two points of the fifth set. But after a kill by CdM senior Austin Chandler, Premer went back and served five points in a row for a 6-2 advantage. The last point of the run featured a nice dig by Premer, which ended up leading to a kill by Dickinson assisted by senior setter Bryce Dvorak.

Servite did not get within three points the rest of the way.

“I’ve been float-serving,” Premer said. “At the tournament, they didn’t have much of a service line. It felt good to get back jump-serving again. I kind of got into a rhythm, and it’s easy for our offense to roll off that.”

Premer said he knows the Sea Kings still have room for improvement. He pointed to defense as a big area where CdM can get better.

“For where we’re at right now, I think we’re playing pretty well,” Premer said. “We’re still figuring a lot of things out. There’s a lot of things that I think our team isn’t so great at. The fact that we’re not so great at many things, yet we’re still finishing high, shows that we have a really high ceiling. I think this team has the highest ceiling out of all of the teams. We can really improve further into the season and make a run in May [in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs].”

CdM has another key match Thursday, as the Sea Kings play at No. 3 Los Angeles Loyola at 6 p.m. It’s the teams’ third meeting of the season. CdM won in five sets at home in its season opener on Feb. 26, and also beat the Cubs Saturday in three tough sets in the Best of the West semifinals.

“We don’t usually play them this much this early in the season,” Premer said. “It’s fun to be able to play those guys. I know how badly they want it. Both times we came back from a deficit and beat them, so I know they’re really hungry to beat us. But I mean, we’re going to come into L.A. and show them what we’ve got, again and again.”