Marina girls’ volleyball sweeps Beckman in CIF Division 3 opener
Marina has a real shot at its first CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball championship in 22 years, everybody on the inside believes, and it began toward that impressively Wednesday night, rolling past the defending champion in a Division 3 playoff opener.
Korynn Mayo delivered 16 kills — at least five every set — Brooklyn Enriquez, Addison Brown and Ximena Martinez combined for another 19 kills, and the fifth-seeded Vikings (17-13) served up nine aces en route to a straight-sets triumph over visiting Beckman.
The Vikings overcame a stiff first-set challenge, then dominated the last two for a 25-23, 25-15, 25-18 victory that sets up a second-round clash at home with Beaumont (14-4), which swept visiting Redlands Citrus Valley.
Beckman (16-11), which lost to graduation nine of the 10 best players from last year’s titlists that finished 35-6 overall, led most of the opening set until a Mayo kill started a 9-2 tear for a three-point Marina edge with two left to score. Then Mayo missed on her next two attempts, Beckman twice pulled within a point, before the sophomore outside hitter nailed it down.
That ignited one of the Vikings’ better performances of the year the rest of the way, a superb defensive effort fueling an efficient attack that used a series of big runs (13-7, 5-0 and 4-1) to romp in the second set and an 11-1 stretch to take charge in the third.
Mayo added a key block and served up three aces, Enriquez added eight kills — three in the big third-set run — and two aces, and Cienna Enriquez, Brooklyn’s sister, also dealt two aces.
“I think we played amazing,” said Brown, who tallied five kills in the third set, including the winner. “I would say our second and third set was probably a top-five [performance for the year]. The first set was a little shaky, but then we got back on our game.”
Sydney Parker’s 14 kills led Beckman, which swept last year’s CIF second-round meeting between the teams but lost to the Vikings in late August.
Surviving the first set, noted Marina coach Ryan Parker, was “a big deal for us, for confidence and keeping our heads cool and just trusting that on the averages, we should score the ball more.”
“We played pretty well,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s our best volleyball, but it was very good volleyball. I think our offense has a little bit to grow, I think we’re a much better passing team than we showed tonight, but they put some pressure on us, and we played pretty well in the middle of sets two and three. I just would have liked to see us accelerate to the finish.”
He’s not taking that approach in the grander scheme. The Vikings, who started three sophomores and two freshmen, have big aims and the patience to meet them.
“I think we’re capable of going all the way. I really do,” he said. “If you take our best volleyball against almost anybody, even teams in higher divisions, I like our chances more than I don’t. All these girls have put in so much work over the offseason, and I’ve got a few who won club national championships, so we’ve got the group now — even though we’re young — to win.
“We’ve got nothing but expectations to just win one game at a time all the way through.”
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