Accolades keep coming for Slaughter, Sea Kings

Corona del Mar High boys’ volleyball star Scott Slaughter was named the Pacific Coast League’s Co-Most Valuable Player along with Tesoro’s Jeff Zornig.

Slaughter heads the list of Sea Kings honored, which includes All-Pacific Coast League first-team picks Phil Bannon and Adam Smith, and second-team selections Gus Ellis and Blaine Nielsen.

The Sea Kings made an impressive run in an attempt to repeat as CIF Southern Section Division II champions, but came up just short, losing to Valencia in five games in the championship match.

Corona del Mar, co-champions of the Pacific Coast League, finished 27-6, 11-1 in league.

Slaughter, a senior middle blocker, was an All-CIF Southern Section Division II first-team selection and he was named the Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Dream Team’s Player of the Year.

Early in the season, it didn’t look like Slaughter was going to end up with all of these awards.

He joined the Sea King volleyball team late because he was on the Corona del Mar boys’ basketball team that reached the CIF playoffs.

Directly after joining the volleyball team, he suffered an abdominal strain and missed 2 ½ more weeks.

But once he got healthy, he started clicking and so did the Sea Kings. Slaughter was dominant at the net as a blocker and a hitter. He was the key figure in Corona del Mar’s CIF Division II semifinals victory over host Santa Barbara High.

Smith and Nielsen were Corona del Mar’s top outside hitters and Bannon was the team’s setter. Bannon has set the Sea Kings to two consecutive CIF championship matches. Ellis, a sophomore middle blocker, will attempt to pick up next year where Slaughter left off, which will be no easy task. But Ellis showed moments of brilliance and an ability to hit the ball straight down on opponents, so his future looks bright.

Smith and Bannon also were CIF Division II second-team picks and Ellis was a CIF Division II third-team selection.