Corona del Mar girls’ water polo takes an unconventional path to success
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An influx of talented senior players has uplifted the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team this season.
Attacker Grace Henderson and goalkeeper Claire Souverville, both originally from Northern California, spent time in the Tony Azevedo-developed 6-8 Water Polo Academy. So did attacker Emma Armen, who also previously played for Mater Dei.
All three ended up at CdM, as did center Sareen Sardarian as a transfer from Woodbridge at the start of the school year.
Third-year head coach Marc Hunt is used to melding players together. After all, that’s what college coaches do, and he spent 17 years as a water polo coach at UC Irvine before coming to CdM.
High school girls, though? That’s a different challenge.
“They were a pretty positive group, sort of knew what the task was at hand and really put some focus into it,” Hunt said. “Generally, when you’re coaching a group like that it takes a lot longer. If you had asked me if I thought this was a team that would get to the Open [Division], I would be hesitant to say, ‘Yes, it’s going to happen.’ To do what they’ve done comes down to what their effort is, and really their ability to get along with each other.”
CdM (17-8) found out Friday that it did make the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs as one of the top eight teams in the section. The Sea Kings are seeded seventh, and will play at Back Bay rival Newport Harbor — the No. 2 seed — to open group play on Wednesday.
How unconventional is the senior class? Only one of the seven seniors, Keira Gingold, has been at the school for all four years, and she’s a former swimmer.
Josie Alaluf, one of three team captains along with Armen and junior left-handed attacker Morgan Dollander, transferred from Newport Harbor at the end of her sophomore year. So did Faith Vlok, a senior backup goalkeeper, after her junior year.
The talent is certainly there. Alaluf and Armen are both headed to play at Loyola Marymount, Sardarian to UCLA, Henderson to the University of Hawaii and Souverville to Wagner College.
Henderson credited Hunt, though, for making all of the pieces fit.
“He is the root to our success, truly, because of how much he pushes us and how much he wants us to be a team,” she said. “The hardest thing, he told us, was not being in shape, not shooting, but building a team. I feel like we can proudly say that we have built a great team. I feel like we can honestly compete with any team that’s in the Open Division, and we want to show who we are. We are CdM. We want to cook.”
The seniors have melded with a talented sophomore class to create a dangerous team. Sophomore centers Camryn Spruill and Keira Bethell lead the team with 64 and 59 goals, respectively, headed into the postseason.
Alaluf said she sees a team that is fully devoted to each other.
“We all have such different personalities, but I think it’s very easy for all of us to get along,” she said. “None of us are mean girls. We all came from good places.”
Corona del Mar, which finished second to Newport Harbor in the competitive Sunset League, has been tough all season. While CdM won Division 1 titles in 2022 and also in Hunt’s first season of 2024, this is the second straight Open Division appearance for the program.
CdM, led by talented graduates Didi Evans and Reagan Weir, was seeded No. 8 last year and battled, losing to higher-ranked Oaks Chrisitan and San Marcos by a combined three goals.
Hunt knows that he won’t get multiple talented seniors dropping in every season, but he also knows that there are reinforcements on the way. He is coaching a successful 14-and-under club group, which he said includes a few players who have made their first USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program selection.
The list includes seventh-graders Halle Hunt (his older daughter), Aven Pathe and speedy swimmer Katherine McCrea, as well as eighth-grader Charlie Bergeron, a goalkeeper.
“You’re creating a pipeline,” Hunt said. “They’re all tall, all fast and they all love playing water polo.”
But first things first. This year’s seniors are hungry and ready to make some noise. After playing at Newport Harbor on Wednesday, the Sea Kings will play at Oaks Christian on Feb. 7 before concluding group play on the road against JSerra on Feb. 11.
CdM has two close losses to JSerra this season, but the playoffs could be a different story. This year’s seniors want to keep writing theirs.
“With such a strong legacy and such a well-decorated team, I feel like there’s a really high standard,” Sardarian said. “That’s what makes our program so attractive. We hold ourselves to a high standard, and obviously we have so many talented players. Even the younger players on our team are so strong … I think we’re ready to keep up the legacy.”
Below are the other local teams who have advanced to the CIF playoffs and their first-round matchups:
Division 1 (first round Friday)
Sunny Hills at Laguna Beach
Huntington Beach at San Clemente
Division 2 (first round Thursday)
Edison at Upland
Division 3 (first round Thursday)
San Juan Hills at Marina
Division 4 (first round Thursday)
Estancia at Long Beach Poly
Division 5 (first round Thursday)
Indian Springs at Los Amigos
Orange at Costa Mesa
