Marina Stops Esperanza, Wins Share of Sunset Title

Esperanza’s path to a Sunset League boys’ volleyball championship was blocked by Marina Tuesday at Marina High.

Rob Kijewski and Scot Austin each had 15 kills and four blocks to help Marina, ranked fourth in Orange County, defeat third-ranked Esperanza, 15-6, 15-12, 15-6.

“We’ve been emphasizing blocking and defense the past two weeks,” Marina Coach Darrick Lucero said. “We got our hands on a lot of balls and you could see Esperanza got a little frustrated in the long rallies.

“We played well defensively.”

The victory gave Marina (14-4, 8-1 in league) at least a share of its second consecutive league title. If Marina defeats Los Alamitos on Thursday, it will win the championship outright.

Esperanza (13-2, 7-2), which has lost its only best-of-five matches to Marina this season, was trying to set up a Thursday league-title showdown with Fountain Valley, which defeated Marina last week.

“It was a poor match for us,” Esperanza Coach Kurt Kersten said. “They kept us uncomfortable from the beginning.”

After Esperanza committed eight hitting errors in the first game, enabling Marina to take a 13-0 lead before closing out the game, 15-6, Esperanza tried to get into the match in the second game.

Esperanza’s Dusty Russell had eight of his 20 kills in the game to help the Aztecs draw even, 9-9. But then Kijewski and Austin blocked Russell on consecutive spikes to give Marina the lead, 11-9.

Although Esperanza pulled even again, 12-12, a block by Marina’s Jeff Wootton (13 kills, four blocks) and Austin and another by setter Seth Cuttrell gave the Vikings game point. An Esperanza hitting error gave Marina Game 2, 15-12.

After Esperanza clawed to within 8-6 in the third game, Marina scored the final seven points with Ross Wolf (seven blocks) and Cuttrell blocking Mike Alleman on match point.