Sea Kings going deep

ALISO VIEJO — The Corona del Mar High boys' volleyball team was the odds-on favorite to advance in Saturday night's CIF Southern Section Division II quarterfinal match.

Establishing an odds-on favorite to lead the team in kills would be a bit more problematic for the Sea Kings and their fans.

Junior outside hitter Parker Brown did the honors in this one, pounding down 12 of them as CdM eased to a 25-14, 25-16, 25-15 victory at Aliso Niguel.

Top-seeded Corona del Mar will play host to Trabuco Hills in a semifinal match at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Trabuco Hills won at No. 4-seeded Oak Park in five sets, in another quarterfinal match Saturday night.

Who knows who will step up for CdM in the semifinals.

"We're still working on writing our final chapter right now, but what makes this team special is the balance that we have," CdM Coach Steve Conti said. "On Thursday, Brennan Anderson led us in kills. Tonight, it's Parker Brown, with Jack [Reed] and Spencer [Haly] right behind him. We've got guys who can put the ball away. Even the guy who put the last ball away at the end of the match, Patrick Pearson, is a really good outside. He'd be playing a lot for a lot of other teams. We're just fortunate to have some depth, and that's one of the reasons why I think we've had a good year. Practice is pretty competitive, too."

The Sea Kings (27-4) were business-like Saturday as they march on in pursuit of their first CIF title since 2007. They won their eighth straight match, getting past the Wolverines (18-8) in just more than an hour.

Conti liked to see his middle blockers get involved, helped by the passing of Anderson. Haly had nine kills and five blocks, while Reed had nine kills and two blocks.

Opposite Evan Dean had six kills, coming from the passes of Nick Curci (20 assists and four digs) and Joe Ctvrtlik (15 assists and five digs). The Sea Kings took the Aliso Niguel crowd, featuring about 75 spirited high school students, out of the match. The Wolverines, who had advanced past the CIF first round for the first time in program history, never really got into a rhythm or went on any prolonged runs.

"The last three or so weeks we kind of caught fire," said Aliso Niguel Coach Dan Bornfeld, whose team tied for second in the Sea View League but handed champion Trabuco Hills its only league loss. "It was all predicated on our defense, and we struggled defensively tonight. [The Sea Kings] made us struggle, because they're so diverse offensively."