CdM sweeps Santa Ynez

Richard Dunn

Your radar screen starts blinking when you face an undefeated, yet

unknown quantity in the CIF Southern Section girls volleyball

playoffs.

And, after Corona del Mar High’s three-game sweep over the Santa

Ynez Pirates in the CIF Division III-A quarterfinals Saturday night,

CdM Coach Bill Christiansen was ready to breathe a little easier.

“I’m majorly relieved,” Christiansen said, following his team’s

15-9, 15-0, 15-7 victory, which propelled the Pacific Coast League

champions into the semifinals Tuesday at second-seeded

Harvard-Westlake (22-4).

Third-seeded Corona del Mar (19-8) played without sophomore

starting middle blocker Lindsey Ensign, who stayed overnight in a

hospital with a kidney infection. But Ensign’s teammates rallied

behind her on the floor as they dismantled Santa Ynez (17-1).

“Our backup middles did a great job,” said Christiansen, whose

team was led by 6-foot senior outside hitter Claire Allen (16 kills).

For Santa Ynez Coach Mike Scheppele, formerly of Fountain Valley,

it was a homecoming of sorts with many of his family members in

attendance, including his parents and grandparents. His sister,

Julie, plays soccer at UC Irvine. But the Sea Kings made it a quick

turnaround back to Santa Barbara County. “They’re probably the

toughest team we’ve seen all year,” Scheppele said.

Santa Ynez, led by Kathleen Gilmoor, managed an early 4-0 lead in

the first game, but CdM came back with sophomore Britta Nielsen at

the service line. First, an ace by Ashley Bill got the hosts on the

scoreboard (which wasn’t working, but PA announcer Brent Ogden

provided frequent updates for the crowd).

Then, after an exchange of sideouts, CdM rolled off five straight

points with Nielsen at serve. After two sideouts, Allen gave the

hosts a 7-4 lead with a service winner, then added a kill and a solo

block for points, followed by a Jordan Smith kill to give CdM a 10-4

edge. Allen had five more kills and an ace before first game’s end.

Santa Ynez pulled to within 12-8, but could get no closer.

“What I liked is that our team didn’t panic,” Christiansen said.

“Lindsey wasn’t going to be there and we kept our composure (in the

first game), then we just hammered them in the second game.”

Bill and Nielsen served aces in the second game, while Allen

recorded seven kills as CdM had its first postseason bagel in recent

memory.

The match’s most poignant moment came in the second game when an

Allen kill, on a Lauren Loe assist, landed square between the thighs

of Santa Ynez’s Ashleigh Sauer and got stuck there. Everyone in the

building, including Sauer, cracked a smile.

Allen opened the second game with two straight scoring kills, then

a Santa Ynez hitting error gave CdM a 3-0 lead. Bill and Nielsen had

aces early in the game. Loe and Allen picked up kills during a 4-0

run with Nielsen at serve, a spurt that gave CdM an 8-0 lead. Several

sideout followed, then a couple of Santa Ynez errors increased CdM’s

lead to 10-0. Loe and Allen added one more kill each, until a series

of unforced errors by the Pirates allowed the Sea Kings to finish the

game without giving up a point.

In the third game, Lauren Snell, Nielsen and Breanne Ogden served

aces for CdM. Alissa Zoelle played well in the back row for CdM.

Smith, one of CdM’s top outside hitters, was among the starters on

the bench in the third game as Zoelle and Ogden joined Allen,

Nielsen, Bill and Snell on the floor.

“In the first game, I thought we gave them a run for their money,”

Scheppele said.

Newport Harbor, meanwhile, took it’s No. 1 credentials in Division

II-AA play to Cathedral City and proceeded to deliver a 15-9, 15-4,

15-12 lesson to the Lions.

Kristin McClune paced the effort with 19 kills, and Lauren Miller

had 10 kills.

Alyson Jennings had six kills and 14 assists, Emily Turner had six

kills and Kelly King had 18 assists.

The top-seeded Sailors (24-6) must travel again on Tuesday with a

match at Alhambra-based Mark Keppel Tuesday night in the semifinals.