Fountain Valley Rallies to Beat No. 2 Marina

Fountain Valley, ranked fourth in the county, rallied to defeat second-ranked Marina in four games Thursday in a Sunset League girls’ volleyball match at Marina High.

Setter Melissa Plass, battling a case of the stomach flu, had 20 digs, five blocks, seven kills and 52 assists for the Barons, who won, 12-15, 15-12, 15-9, 15-10.

And Plass had plenty of help.

Fountain Valley (10-2, 5-1 in league), which lost to Marina (9-2, 5-1) in three games in their first meeting, used a balanced attack to keep the Vikings guessing.

Baron outside hitters Natalie Snowden (20 kills) and Kristin Deatherage (18 kills) combined with middle blockers Jeslin Olson (14 kills, five blocks) and Liz Hudson (seven kills, three blocks) to give Plass plenty of options.

But Fountain Valley Coach Lori Biller was even more pleased with her team’s grit.

“Mentally, we stayed tough,” Biller said. “We got our side-out game going, we served tough, and we didn’t give up strings of points.”

Marina was trying to put a stranglehold on its first league title since 1990. After splitting the first two games, the Vikings led, 9-6, in Game 3 but lost, 15-9, and they never recovered.

Lindsay Phillips had 25 kills, 27 digs and five blocks and Chanda McLeod added 20 kills for Marina.