CdM boys’ volleyball sweeps Edison in CIF Division 1 playoff opener
Corona del Mar is now six sets away from accomplishing its goal, the Sea Kings hopeful they will get a chance to return to the boys’ volleyball championship game and right the wrong of a year ago.
The CIF Southern Section Division 1 crown resides with Newport Harbor, which swept CdM in the final at Cerritos College last season.
It weighs heavily on the senior leadership of this group, among the first thoughts to come from Stanford-bound setter Ryan Gant after his team wrapped up a win in its Division 1 playoff opener.
“Having the opportunity to win the first game of CIF and continue to do well is big for me,” Gant said. “Playing with this team, especially after last year, losing in the finals of CIF, we’re hoping to do better this time and really take it to the finals and win it all.”
The third-seeded Sea Kings dismissed No. 7 Edison 25-16, 25-20, 25-18 on Wednesday, facing little resistance in their opening match of Pool B in the top division.
Eight teams qualified into the Division 1 playoffs, divided into a pair of four-team groups. Second-seeded Manhattan Beach Mira Costa swept No. 6 Tesoro 25-16, 25-19, 25-14 in the other Pool B match of the evening.
Corona del Mar (22-6) will play host to Tesoro (17-8) on Tuesday, while Edison (16-13) will travel to Mira Costa (33-3).
Sterling Foley, a senior outside hitter and USC commit, paced the Sea Kings with 14 kills. Gant contributed across the board with 27 assists, three kills and four block assists.
Senior outside hitter Everett Welton had eight kills to go with three service aces and 1½ total blocks, and senior middle blocker Reid McMullen supplied four kills and two block assists.
The Sea Kings also received production from the ranks of their underclassmen. Sophomore opposite Brady Gant had four kills and two total blocks, while freshman middle blocker Daniel Booker made his presence known in the front row with a match-best five block assists.
“One of the greatest things about having four Sunset [Conference] teams in CIF is that we’ve already played three of the eight twice,” CdM coach Katey Thompson said. “That really worked out for our advantage. We watched a ton of film on Edison, and we were able to execute what we wanted to.”
Edison played a five-set match against all three Surf League opponents this season, defeating Huntington Beach and coming two points shy of doing the same to CdM in the second half of league.
The Chargers’ performance in the playoff opener was “out of character,” as Edison coach Elias Perez described it.
“We kind of ended league on a positive note, battling the best teams and kind of pushing teams to five [sets],” Perez said. “We just kind of showed up thinking that we can just cruise against one of the top teams in the country, and that’s just not the case.”
Senior outside hitter Noah Nelson led the Chargers with 11 kills. Senior outside hitter Owen Banner added eight kills. Senior middle blocker Ben Winokur and junior opposite Connor McNally chipped in with five kills each. Senior setter Johnny Braunstein also had 28 assists.
Also in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball playoffs:
No. 4 Newport Harbor 3, No. 8 Mater Dei 0: Senior outside hitter Riggs Guy had a team-leading 18 kills for the host Sailors in a 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 win over the Monarchs in a Pool A match on Wednesday.
Sophomore outside hitter Henry Clemo had 10 kills, junior middle blocker Jack Berry added nine kills, and senior setter Grayson Springborn dished out 41 assists for Newport Harbor (27-6).
The Sailors play host to Huntington Beach on Tuesday.
No. 1 Los Angeles Loyola 3, No. 5 Huntington Beach 2: Junior middle blocker Nick Ganier pounded out 22 kills, but the visiting Oilers fell short in their upset bid by a count of 25-21, 25-15, 28-30, 20-25, 15-12 in Wednesday’s Pool A opener.
Senior outside hitter Bennet Tchaikovsky contributed 13 kills and 20 digs. Senior opposite Aidan Dubno also had 13 kills, and freshman middle blocker Logan Hutnick added 10 kills. Senior setter Jake Pazanti finished with 46 assists and eight kills for Huntington Beach (26-6).
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