Corona del Mar beats Westlake 3-1 in the Southern California Regional Div. II Championship Final
The boy’s volleyball final of the Southern California Regional Div. II championship took place on Saturday at the Irvine Valley College between Westlake boys volleyball team and Corona del Mar. The four set match was intense as Corona del Mar walked away
champions, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-20.
"It was a great match," Westlake coach Doug Magorien said. "Their serve-receive was immaculate. We made some error on our serve-receive. We passed OK, but you have to pass better than that to beat that team. I'm proud of these guys. We got a second chance
at Mater Dei and got redemption. We gave a valiant effort."
It took some time for Corona del Mar to adjust to the raucous crowd present at Irvine Valley College as they lost the first set of the match to Westlake by a considerable margin. Taking advantage of their distracted opponents, Westlake took a big lead in
the opening set early on at 10-2. All through the first set, Corona del Mar kept on trailing behind as Westlake easily extended their advantage to 20-11. After this point, it was only a matter of time before Westlake secured the initial set at 25-17.
However, Corona del Mar was able to rally together and step up their game to win the next set of the game at 25-20.
The loss of the second game rejuvenated Westlake and they gave Corona del Mar tough competition on the third set. Westlake kept the pressure on Corona del Mar by taking the lead early and keeping it the most part of the set. However, when the set reached
its final stages, Corona del Mar was able to push past ahead and take the lead at 20-19. Once they had secured their dominance, Corona del Mar did not look back and went on to bag the third set at 25-23.
With the next set being do or die, Westlake started the fourth set by increasing their efforts to make a win. As a result, the first part of the set was an intense struggle between the two teams with the score tied at 14-14. However, Corona del Mar was able
to make a run for it at 5-1 which eventually led them to win the fourth and final set at 25-20.
Westlake, who has been able to win a total of 28 matches in this season went home cradling their disappointment as they also stood runners up in last year’s Southern Section Div. II tournament. Westlake had lost the championship to Laguna Beach that time
around. With their recent loss, the number of Westlake defeats now tally to be six.
Tags: