By Candice Tran
On Wednesday, Mar. 29, the boys’ volleyball team played a challenging game against the Corona del Mar (CdM) Sea Kings who rank fourth in the nation. The Barons battled with their utmost efforts, but the Sea Kings came out on top, winning the non-league game, 0-3.
The match was defined by the Sea Kings’ formidable offense and a rigorous undertaking by the Barons to come out victorious against CdM. Though the outcome was not what they desired, an important contributor to the effort was junior Bennett Heydorn, who held the Barons in the game offensively with his sharp kills. Other key players included senior captain Curtis Harper and junior Colin Harper with their teamwork and blocks.
“My biggest goal [for the team] is that they play to their potential regardless of who’s on the other side [of the court]. They definitely did the things that needed to be done in order to perform,” head coach Rebecca Cheltenham said.
The game commenced with a failed serve from the Barons. After a long, transpiring rally, the Sea Kings took another point with their height advantage helping them get an uncontested spike.
Both sides scored more points to further the score, but with a line shot by Heydorn, the Barons led 4-3.
CdM began building a lead (9-16) while the Barons struggled to create successful plays and made numerous faults. Heydorn kept the Barons in the game with his powerful kills, ricocheting off the fingertips of the Sea Kings.
Unfortunately, the Sea Kings’ offense was too quick and strong for the Barons to defend—play after play, CdM scored (10-20). The first set approached its end, the Barons still unable to stop Sea King attacks or attempt their own. The sound of the whistle signified that the Sea Kings took the first set, 12-25.
The Barons were able to start the second set with a lead from the Sea Kings’ faults. Though the Barons steadily improved their defense, CdM created impenetrable, towering walls above the net, declining the Barons any attempt to score (5-12). In the second set, defensively, Curtis Harper kept the ball in play on various occasions, giving the Barons second chances.
With an opportunity to score, senior captain Jovanni Dang set the ball to the back row for senior Joseph Nguyen with a kill the Sea Kings were unable to receive. The score sat 11-21. The Barons were then able to obtain more points with faults from CdM, but after an enduring rally, the Barons failed to get the ball on their opponent’s side. A fault from the Barons concluded the set 16-25 in favor of the Sea Kings.
The piercing screech of the referee’s whistle rang again to signify the start of the third and, soon to be known, final set.
The Harper brothers were able to reignite a fire under the Barons, scoring back-to-back points between themselves, and even shutting down an offensive attack from the Sea Kings (5-3). Freshman libero Arion Wang had impressive digs that allowed the Barons to put up a bigger fight against CdM. The score was tighter this set—the Barons were far from finished.
Another quick kill from Heydorn, blocks and kills by Colin Harper and junior Thomas Ho and solid defense from Wang only enabled a one-point lead from the Sea Kings (15-16). Another rally ensued, but the Sea Kings secured the point. Dang set a pipe for Curtis Harper who made the kill, keeping the score close, 18-20.
The Barons maintained a tight score for most of the set, but the Sea Kings pulled away in the final minutes of the match. Several aces and fatal attacks left the Barons in the dust, unable to recover. With an overpass kill from a Sea King, the final score was 20-25, the Barons losing all three sets.
“Hopefully [in our next game] we come out the same way we came out [today] and have freedom to be consistent in all areas of the game and we’re hopefully going to do well,” Cheltenham said.
The Barons’ next home game will be on Thursday, April 7, against Laguna Beach High School at 6 p.m.
