Oden Leads Irvine to Another State Volleyball Championship

There were times Saturday that Davis High School seemed to do everything necessary to beat defending state volleyball champion Irvine High, neutralizing Irvine’s All-American middle blocker Bev Oden for stretches.

Of course, there were other times when the best the Blue Devils could do was duck.

After a slow start, Oden led Irvine (21-0) to an 11-15, 15-3, 15-13, 15-10 victory in the finals of the state Division I girls’ volleyball tournament at Cal State Fullerton.

Irvine became the first school to repeat as Division I champion. Davis made some history of its own just by reaching the final. The Blue Devils (33-2) were the first Northern Californian team to make the final since 1981.

And it appeared as if the Blue Devils were out to create a few more memories.

Irvine took a 7-1 lead despite Davis’ containment of Oden. Her first hit attempt was blocked by Amy Brown, but Irvine’s Haley Orme and Sara Lockemy combined for 5 kills and 2 blocks to lead the Vaqueros to what appeared to be a comfortable lead.

“At that point I’m thinking, ‘Warm up the bus, we’re going to be out of here quick,’ ” said Mark McKenzie, Irvine coach.

But Davis went on an 8-0 run that was sparked by the Blue Devils’ ability to dig out just about everything hit at them. They forced Irvine into numerous errors, with 5 of their 8 points coming by way of Vaquero mistakes.

Irvine tied the score at 9-9, but then Davis went on a 5-0 run, the last 2 points coming on consecutive blocks by Lisa Rumsey. Carrie Felman ended the game with a kill.

“We’ve come back all year,” said Jennifer Terra, Davis coach. “We’ve been down 4-12 and won, we’ve been losing 7-14 and won. I knew we could chip away at them.”

But not in the second game, as Oden became a one-person attack. Limited to 3 kills in the first game, Oden, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, had 7 kills as Irvine cruised to a win. Oden kept it up in the third game, staking Irvine to a 13-5 lead with hit after hit.

“She’s so hard to defend,” said Davis’ Shawna Jonas, who led the Blue Devils with 10 kills. “She hits the ball all over the court with power. You can’t cheat toward any one spot.”

But Davis did manage another rally, getting as close as 14-13. But Oden added 2 more kills to get side outs, then won the game for Irvine with a service ace.

“We had flashes of brilliance, but then we would hit the wall,” McKenzie said. “Bev played so well at times that it lifted the rest of the team.”

Oden set a championship game record with 25 kills, breaking the record of former teammate Cari Delson, now playing at Pepperdine.

Oden had 4 kills to begin the fourth game as Irvine took a 9-1 lead. That grew to 13-3 before Davis began chipping away, cutting the deficit to 13-10. But Oden got her final kill to get a side out.

A Lockemy kill, and a mix-up on the Davis side at match point gave the championship to Irvine.