Marina girls’ volleyball advances to first CIF final in two decades

Nobody’s been more surprised by Marina High’s improbable run toward a CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball championship than the Vikings themselves, but they took another emphatic step toward that goal Saturday night with a comprehensive semifinal sweep of visiting Kennedy.

They’re just one win from the Division 5 title after Dominique Vadeboncoeur’s dominance at the net and strong service led to a fourth successive playoff sweep, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22, to send them to their first CIF final in 20 years.

“I didn’t see this coming at all,” said setter Jordan Packer, who orchestrated an attack that hit .414 with a 58.6 kill percentage. “I thought that we would lose the first or second [playoff] game, and we came out [for the postseason] and everything started going so good. ...

“I never thought in my life, especially going to Marina, that we’d be playing in a CIF game. It’s a big chance to be playing [for the title].”

The eighth-ranked Vikings (19-13), in the program’s first playoff appearance since 2006, will take on No. 10 Sherman Oaks Buckley (20-2) — a four-set winner at Capistrano Valley Christian — next Saturday at either Cerritos College or on the Griffins’ home court in Sherman Oaks.

“We thought it was possible, but we didn’t know it was going to happen, you know?” said Vadeboncoeur, who delivered 17 kills, six of them (including the winner) in the third set, and served three aces. “It feels amazing. I’m so happy. I’m almost in shock. I feel like it hasn’t hit me yet.”

Marina has won two Southern Section titles, in 1997 and 2002, and captured a state crown 25 years ago, but the program has struggled against the Sunset Conference powerhouses since and entered this year’s playoffs as an at-large team from the Wave League, the lesser of the two Sunset-connected divisions. Their strength of schedule is paying off now.

“These kids are pretty tough,” Marina coach Jake Nuneviller said. “We dealt with some adversity throughout the season, and my biggest complaint, that we’ve been stuck in this brutal league and haven’t been able to make the playoffs, is ultimately what I think is helping us so much. We’re slugging it out with the best, playing against these top-, top-, top-level teams all the time, so when we see girls like [Kennedy superstar Addison Collum], we’re not afraid of her.”

The 6-foot Collum led the Fighting Irish (25-6) with 15 kills, and 6-foot middle blocker Faith Martin made seven blocks, but Marina possessed more tools and made the most of them, holding off late Kennedy runs in the first and third sets. Lyndsey Wessel’s spike at the net clinched the first after a seven-point lead was twice trimmed to a point. The Vikings also rallied with 10-3 and 9-3 sprees after dropping the first five points of the second set.

Packer had 34 assists, Jalissa Costa added six kills and seven digs, and Mackenzie Dorney had five kills in just six chances to go with four aces. Lauren Betts added three aces, two in a row as Marina took command in the second set and the third to set the stage for Vadeboncoeur’s second-set winner.

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