On to state!

Mike Sciacca

Someone once said that it is not your destination, but the

journey, that matters most.

Over the past four years, it’s been quite a trip for the Marina

High girls’ volleyball program.

Four years ago, a roadmap wouldn’t have helped the Vikings find

Cypress College, home of the CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball

championships.

Last Saturday night, at that very same site, Marina put its

program back on the map by taking an intense and exciting 15-4,

15-11, 14-16, 13-15, 15-9 upset victory over top-seed Mira Costa in

the Division I-A finale.

“To know where we were four years ago to where we are now is just

amazing,” said an elated Jeff Caughthran, who capped his fourth year

as Marina’s head coach by leading the school to its first Southern

Section title since the 1997 Vikings parlayed a CIF championship into

a state title.

And the season continues: Marina entered the CIF State Volleyball

Championships, which began Tuesday, with a No. 5 seed.

The Vikings (19-4) will travel to face San Diego Section school

Torrey Pines (23-6).

The Vikings won’t mind the road trip, at all.

“I’m so proud of our entire team. We fought all the way in this

match and never gave up, even when Mira Costa had all the momentum

heading into the decisive fifth game,” Marina senior Becky Green

said. “I was on this team when we were really low, and this is about

as high as you can get.”

Green, along with senior middle blocker Jessica Brackett, were

freshman on Caughthran’s first varsity squad four years ago. That

Viking team went 1-9 in the Sunset League and went nowhere.

“It was hard to go through that and over the course of the last

few years this team really grew together,” Caughthran said. “You

could see the pieces of the puzzle starting to come together.

“We had something to prove at the beginning of the season. We

weren’t ranked and not considered to make a lot of noise. But these

girls took it as a challenge and through all the ups and downs,

really stuck together. What they did here tonight is a tribute to

their character.”

The Vikings went 8-2 in Sunset League play this year and entered

the playoffs ranked third in Division I-A.

It was the school’s first trip to the playoffs in five years.

En route to the title game, they bumped off Canyon of Canyon

Country, No. 9 Mission Viejo and second-ranked Capistrano Valley.

Mira Costa came into the contest having won two consecutive

Southern Section titles -- and was the favorite to make it three in a

row.

Green, bound for UCLA next fall, knew what a victory would mean

for a Marina program that had worked its way back toward the top.

The 5-foot-11 outside hitter went about business Saturday night

with a smile on her face. It never disappeared, not when Mira Costa

came back to force a fifth game, and it only became brighter as she

accepted congratulatory hugs from well-wishers that included a few

tearful Mira Costa players.

She paced the Vikings with 38 kills, getting four in the decisive

game. Senior outside hitter Martha Gardikas and senior middle blocker

Tonya Maosi had 17 and 10 kills, respectively.

At 10:05 p.m., Caughthran, surrounded by his team, hoisted skyward

the championship plaque for the Marina faithful to see.

The Marina girls’ volleyball team consists of Caughthran,

assistant coach Corey Peters, Green, Brackett, Gardikas, Maosi,

senior Amber Gregory, juniors Bree Peterson, Whitney Gaeta, Stacey

Yudin and Jenna Davies and sophomore Natalie Nieto.