The Sea Kings have had an impressive season so far for all three levels of the program. On March 13, the Sea Kings hosted the Fountain Valley Barons for an exciting match. Here are some of the highlights of CdM’s Junior Varsity and Varsity Boys’ teams.

Before the game, Freshman Andrews Warmington and Freshman Dylan Gant on Junior Varsity talked about how they felt going into the battle against Fountain Valley. On how he felt going into the game, Warmington commented, “I feel pretty good. I mean, we had some tough losses these last few games, but besides that, I feel good.” Gant also commented, “I feel pretty good. Our team has gotten a lot better over the last couple of games. We lost some games, but I think we’re going to bounce back and win.” Though the boys weren’t right, they were close, just a few points shy of securing the dub.

For Junior Varsity, Fountain Valley, though the boys battled well, were lucky to win the set 23-25. To begin the second set, the Barons continued to execute just as strongly as in the first, with standout players like Anderson Vu and Kobe Nguyen. To hold back the Barons, freshmen Dylan Gant, Deven Soni, and Henry Morris had excellent blocks, giving not just the team but the fans a boost of energy. Points-wise, the Sea Kings were down 3-7 at the beginning of the second set, and freshman Tomas Melvin-Torres had changed that with two stunning hits, causing the team to go on a scoring spree with freshmen Henry Morris and Deven Soni with a kill later on.

A heart-racing moment for the crowd during this game was caused by Andrews Warmington (libero) with a good save, passed awkwardly to Gant, having to dive into the reporting booths to freely pass over the net. Later, Soni blocked the Barons’ chance for a point, making the game score 15-19. Freshmen Mikey Sun and Dylan Gant also had great saves to stop the Barons from making the score worse, 15-21.

An attempt to come back, Melvin-Torres later had three thrilling hits to increase not just the score but the energy for Corona del Mar.

Unfortunately, the stellar freshmen of CdM’s team couldn’t pull through with the win, and Fountain Valley got the victory in the second set (20-25) to finalize the game.

Though JV couldn’t come up with a win, Corona del Mar’s Varsity team did. To start off the game, CdM and Fountain Valley battled head-to-head, consistently tying the score throughout the beginning of the first set. That was until Chapman Warmington, the team’s star libero/defensive specialist, got four aces in a row, putting the Sea King in the lead 15-11. Shortly after the star plays from Warmington, Marco Dibella (setter) had two aces to make the score 25-15, securing the win from CdM for the first set.

With bated breath, the crowd surveyed the hectic scenes of the second set. Fountain Valley and CdM battled at the beginning of the set, the score fluctuating back and forth. One of the pinnacle moments of the second set was Chapman Warmington diving into the stands to save the point, enabling CdM to lead the game 14-12. Followed by a powerful serve from Drake Foley, Ben Brown, one of the star players of the game, came in with one of the strongest hits of the game, putting CdM in a good place at 18-12.

Whilst Fountain Valley fought hard to raise their score up to 15, CdM retaliated back stronger than ever. Shortly after, Hunter Hannamen and Colton Carson jousted Fountain Valley’s hitters, setting the score to 22-15, creating an opening for CdM to secure the win.

Danny Booker had a riveting hit to make the score 23-15 CdM, the headway to CdM’s win for the second set. Though the beginning of both sets was heart-racing, the boys secured a strong lead halfway through both sets, forging a record of 17-3.

With boys’ Varsity #3 in the nation, along with JV and Frosh being powerhouses in their leagues, all three teams are increasingly coming back stronger every day, creating a program that will set up a promising future for boys’ volleyball.