Marouf’s Kill Instinct Powers St. Margaret’s

It’s fitting that St. Margaret’s senior Abe Marouf is going to Harvard to play squash because that’s exactly what he did to Montebello Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary on Saturday at Cypress College.

Marouf pounded, pummeled and punished the Cardinals for 25 kills and six blocks to lead St. Margaret’s to its first Southern Section title with a 15-13, 15-10, 15-6 victory in the Division V boys’ volleyball final.

“I knew we had to take Abe out of the match by serving tough and we did a good job of that in the first game,” Cantwell-Sacred Heart Coach Franco Macchia said. “But he just took over in that second game. He took us out of our game.”

Marouf had 14 of his kills in the second game, when St. Margaret’s turned it around after trailing, 8-6, scoring six consecutive points and taking control of the game and the match.

In the third game, St. Margaret’s (18-1) took an 8-2 lead and Cantwell-Sacred Heart (14-4) never got closer than five points the rest of the way. It ended when sophomore James Edwards, who had 12 kills, spiked off the block on match point.

“Words can’t describe this,” Marouf said. “It’s awesome. I told the guys this is just one game, except we get rings at the end of this.”

St. Margaret’s Coach Susie Maga has led the Tartan girls to two consecutive section titles, but this one was special.

“I truly wanted it for these guys,” Maga said. “There are so many seniors on this team, and they’ve worked so hard to get to this level.”

Senior setter Matt McGraw had 27 of his 49 assists in the second game to pilot the St. Margaret’s attack, but there were plenty of other contributors.

Senior Jesse Clanton had only five kills, but he finished with 20 digs. Senior Kevin Krouse had five kills and four blocks and sophomore Nick Brion had six kills and four blocks.

The taller Tartans gave the Cardinal hitters fits, and served tough to make it hard for Cantwell-Sacred Heart to run its normal offense.

“I knew if we had to run basic stuff their block would hurt us,” Macchia said. “We had to play a perfect game and we couldn’t do it.”