Corona del Mar Hopes Top Ranking Won’t Wash Away

Shortly after learning the Corona del Mar girls’ volleyball team had earned the No. 1 ranking in the nation, Sea King Coach Lance Stewart put it all in perspective.

“I’m going to treat it like bird poop in the rain,” he said. “Our team is beatable, but I feel we can beat anyone we can play.”

Corona del Mar (9-0, 7-0 in the Sea View League) moved into the top spot in the USA Today/Mizuno national poll Wednesday after winning the Diver Sports Challenge national tournament in Chicago on Oct. 3.

Laguna Beach (7-0), which finished fifth at the tournament, is ranked seventh in the national poll. The event featured one-game matches, which don’t count against a team’s record.

The Sea Kings have dominated most teams they have played and won the Orange County championships in mid-September. Their toughest match was a five-game victory over league rival Newport Harbor the day before they left for Chicago.

“We have been using tapes of that match to remind the kids that they can be beat,” Stewart said. “We have a lot of room to improve.”

This is the first time the Sea Kings have been ranked No. 1 in the nation. The 1990 team that won the State Division I title finished second in the national poll.

Add volleyball: Mater Dei, which meets Capistrano Valley in a key South Coast League match tonight, has lost its top player, outside hitter Pattie Boland, for the rest of the season because of a knee injury.

Boland, a 5-foot-9 senior, underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in her left knee. She is expected to be out three to four months but will return in time for the club season.

“I didn’t even know how I did it,” said Boland, one of the county’s top players.

Boland said the Mater Dei trainer sent her to her doctor, who discovered the cartilage tear.