Ocean View girls’ volleyball wins first league title since 2011

Goals live in such a fragile state.

They live on as our deepest desires until a new reality sets in, forcing them to be reassessed.

Two matches into Golden West League girls’ volleyball play, it seemed that Ocean View High’s stated dream of winning a league title was just that, a fantasy. Ocean View had been handled at home in a commanding sweep by Loara.

The Seahawks had their resolve tested. They were taken to five sets three times in their remaining league contests. The last, a five-set victory over Westminster at home on Friday, set up a great opportunity three days later.

Ocean View capitalized with a straight-sets victory over host Orange, defeating the Panthers 25-7, 25-19, 26-24 to grab a share of the league title on Monday night.

“I think it’s great,” Ocean View junior outside hitter Jillian Pratt said, eyeing the banners hanging in the Orange gym. “After we lost that Loara [match], I thought we were never going to get a banner. We had hope. I still stayed hopeful, and we did it. I can’t believe we did it.”

Ocean View (19-4, 8-2 in league) has won its first league title since it captured four straight league crowns from 2008 to 2011 under the tutelage of brothers Adam and Seth Cutrell. The Seahawks will share this one with Segerstrom (14-13, 8-2), which swept Santa Ana 25-21, 25-23, 25-20 on Monday.

Helen Reynolds finished with a team-high eight kills for Ocean View. Bethany Cruz added five kills and a block, and Pratt had four kills. Libero Kelly Greiner contributed five service aces.

The Seahawks overpowered the Panthers (3-19, 1-9) in the first set. Cambria Adams had 10 of her 12 assists in Game 1, and Ocean View went on a 14-0 run behind the serve of Po Russ.

Even though it had only been a six-year drought between league titles, the players felt like they had a deep hole to climb out of. The seniors have had six different head coaches during their time at the school.

“[The obstacles] felt so huge, especially with the different coaches,” Russ said. “We came in thinking, ‘Oh, it’s just another new coach.’”

“We’ve had older coaches before, so having a new, young coach [Joshua Nehls] was kind of different for us. It was a different style, but I think that is exactly what we needed to get us to that next level.”

Nehls set the bar high, pushing his team to shoot for big goals. His team came out of the gates at a sprint in nonleague action, just as he had implored them to do so. The first-year coach told his players that a marathon is won in the first mile. Once among the lead pack, his team could start to pick off the remaining competitors one-by-one.

On Monday night, those competitors numbered three. They were the sets left to clinch the league title, and they accomplished their goal with a count down … three, two, one … league champions.

It was senior night, and the home crowd got behind their Panthers late in the match. Orange played its best in its final set of the season, earning three set points. Greiner came up with several unreturnable serves to produce a match point for the Seahawks, which they converted after an extended rally.

“I saw some of them go back to serve and just say, ‘I’m just going to let my arm swing,’” Nehls said of the Panthers’ play in the third set. “They were making them in. It was surprising, but it happens. You go for it, sometimes you get it.”

Daisy Barcenas had eight assists and Maylani Miller added seven assists for the Panthers. Maquela Miller and Samantha Cuyler posted five kills apiece, with Lineni Tuitupou notching four kills and three aces.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner