HUNTINGTON BEACH – Marina’s girls volleyball took a significant step toward clinching a playoff berth Tuesday by sweeping Huntington Beach in a Sunset League match at Huntington Beach High.
The Vikings won the first set 25-22, survived a spectacularly-entertaining second set 29-27 and finished the night with a 25-21 win in the third set before a large and enthusiastic crowd.
Marina and Huntington Beach were in a three-way tie for third place, the six-team league’s final guaranteed berth for the CIF Southern Section playoffs, with Corona del Mar. The three teams entered this week with 4-5 league records.
Marina junior outside hitter Korynn Mayo led the Vikings in kills, as she usually does, with 15. Vikings junior opposite hitter Cambria Gollinger had eight kills and senior opposite hitter Addison Brown contributed seven kills. Senior setters Vai Centers and Alyssa Enriquez had 16 and 15 assists, respectively.
Marina, 18-11 overall, has two league matches remaining. The Vikings are home against Fountain Valley on Thursday and at Edison on Oct. 14.
Huntington Beach (14-18) also has two league matches remaining. The Oilers play at second-place Newport Harbor on Thursday and are home against league-leading Los Alamitos on Oct. 14.
This week’s CIF-SS girls volleyball power rankings included a note that CIF-SS Division 1 is looking like it will be a 12-16 team bracket. Division 1 last season was an eight-team group that was divided into two pools for a pool-play format.
Marina, if the Vikings do make the playoffs, seem to be destined for Division 3 which would probably be a 32-team bracket.
Teams that do not finish high enough in their league’s final standings to automatically qualify for the playoffs can get into the playoffs as an at-large team if their overall record is .500 or better and if there is room in their division for one or more at-large teams. Huntington Beach cannot finish at .500, and the Oilers do have those two outstanding teams remaining on their league schedule.
It often happens that when a high school volleyball team wins the second set to go up 2-0 that team falters and loses the third set.
Mayo was pleased that the Vikings with their 2-0 lead stayed focused and strong to win the third set Tuesday.
“For us that’s really hard,” Mayo said. “So doing this is a big deal. We found a pocket of energy somewhere.”
Vikings coach Ryan Parker, who also coaches the school’s varsity boys volleyball team, also appreciated that the team did not fade in the third set.
“In between sets it was ‘foot on the gas, foot on the gas, foot on the gas,’” Parker said. “We’re playing our best volleyball late in the year.”
Huntington Beach hung in there throughout the match. The Oilers again received excellent play from senior outside hitter Ellie Esko.
Their best chance to win a set Tuesday was in the second set. Huntington Beach had a 19-15 lead in that set. Marina outscored the Oilers 6-1 to climb back in, Huntington Beach served three times for set point but could not get the point.
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