Marina Establishes Itself With a Victory

Respect is overrated. Just ask the Marina girls’ volleyball team.

Unseeded for the state girls’ volleyball playoffs, the Vikings reeled off three consecutive road victories to reach Saturday’s state final at Cypress College.

Then Marina added the exclamation point, trouncing three-time state champion San Jose Archbishop Mitty, 15-9, 15-10, 15-9, in a Division I final, which lasted 1 hour 19 minutes.

Sarah Smith served for the final three points, and the Marina junior served an ace on match point to give the Vikings their first title in the school’s first appearance in the state tournament.

Senior Lindsay Phillips, the Division I MVP, had 21 kills, 14 digs and two blocks. Junior Chanda McLeod had 16 kills for the Vikings. Senior Katie Keating had 11 kills and 17 digs and junior setter Ashlee Phillips had 46 assists for Marina (22-2).

“I think we proved without a doubt, that we are the best team in the state by far,” Marina Coach Darrick Lucero said. “It feels great. We played a great program and we took them out in three games.

“We played our best match of the year tonight.”

Marina’s scorching performance left Archbishop Mitty (28-3) perplexed and dejected.

“They were hot coming in and they played great volleyball,” Archbishop Mitty Coach Jason Curtis said. “They played so well . . . it was tough to find openings.

“We didn’t expect them to make so few mistakes.”

That became a familiar refrain throughout the playoffs for Marina’s opponents.

Marina began its romp through the post-season by winning its first Southern Section championship, defeating Mater Dei, then-ranked No. 1 in the state.

“We were the only ones who believed in ourselves,” Keating said. “No one thought we were going to beat Mater Dei. But we stuck together.”

The Vikings stuck together through the state tournament, taking bus trips to beat Central Section champion Clovis Buchanan in four games, then Southern Section Division I-AA champion Newport Harbor in five games, then San Diego Section champion Poway in four games.

“They were battle tested,” Curtis said. “It was probably nice for them to come home and play again.”

And Marina played well in front of the home crowd, which packed one side of the gymnasium. The Vikings didn’t allow the Monarchs much breathing room by siding out consistently.

Archbishop Mitty was even in the third game, 8-8, when Marina started to inch away. One kill by McLeod, two by Phillips, then four assorted passing, hitting and service errors by the Monarchs gave Marina the serve at 12-9.

Two points later, Sarah Smith served an ace for Marina’s championship point.

“It’s a great feeling,” McLeod said. “We were all pretty nervous coming in here. We just did what we needed to do.”

Although Phillips had eight kills and McLeod had seven in the first game, Lucero pointed out the team’s balance helped them win the first game, 15-9.

Archbishop Mitty senior Monique Tobbagi (10 kills), who has committed to Oregon, and Joanne Saunders (nine kills) tried to rally the Lancers, but Marina never cracked.

“We played great when we beat Mater Dei, but we knew we’d have to take it to another level for state,” Lucero said. “And then we got here, and we saved our best match for last.”