San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
MAR VISTA BOYS VOLLEYBALL TEAM IMPROVED SO MUCH THEY WON A TITLE
Most high school sports teams start the season with short- and long-term goals.
Things like league championships, section titles and, way off in the distance, dreams of a Southern California Regional title. Then you have Mar Vista. “Our goal was to get better day by day,” said coach Sean Mathews, a former Eastlake High volleyball standout in his fourth year coaching the Mariners’ boys team. “We wanted to get better technically and eliminate those errors that can cost you. No gift points.
“We worked at getting aggressive and on making our opponents earn every point. Yes, we wanted to win CIF, but that didn’t become a topic until we started gaining momentum after finishing fourth in a tournament where even the games we lost to Division 1 and 2 teams were close.”
First Mar Vista defended its Metro South Bay title by going 12-0, earning the No. 1 seed in the section Division 4 playoffs.
That momentum allowed the Mariners to earn the school’s first section title with a 3-1 victory over Del Lago Academy, and while they were at it, this team became the first to win a state playoff contest, downing Los Angeles Mendez on the road, 3-0, on Tuesday.
The Mariners’ (30-7, 10 consecutive wins) magical ride continued Thursday with a stunning 25-18, 25-17, 25-22 victory over No. 1 seeded Grossmont. The win moved No. 5 Mar Vista into the Southern California championships against No. 2 Monrovia (28-6).
Mathews, who played college and international volleyball in Mexico, knew he had a solid team. Whether they could be champions remained to be seen.
“Most teams in Division 3 and 4 have a really good player or two or three,” Mathews said. “Mendez had the best player I’ve seen all year, but there was a dropoff after him. We have seven really good players who know their roles well.”
All good teams need an outside hitter, and while 6foot-1 Ethan Hastings fits that role, he isn’t alone. Against Del Lago, he had 14 kills. Teammates Gabe Anaya had 12 kills and Nate Ramos 10.
Hunter Thomas is the setter and passing the ball around, he had 52 assists. First-year player Josh Dupree, the 6-foot-6 basketball standout, chipped in seven blocks. He’s headed to UC San Diego on an academic scholarship.
“It took some time before we were really comfortable with each other,” said Thomas, 18, who will attend San Diego State next fall. “This team has great chemistry. I’ve been on a lot of teams, but there isn’t that infighting you see on some of them. We all have the same goal — to win.
“I didn’t realize that this school had not only never won a volleyball championship, but had never been to the finals. Winning the section was huge.”
While the Mariners showed nerves that one might expect from a team playing in its first-ever section championship by dropping the first set against Del Lago, Mathews said the team quickly settled down to win convincingly.
There was no repeat against Mendez, a school from the heart of Los Angeles, which became the ninth straight victory for Mar Vista.
“We had film and knew they had the one outstanding player,” Mathews said. “When we need to fight, we fight. But the difference was we weren’t nervous. I’m just glad they didn’t have six of those top guys.”
Proof of that was the Mariners had 14 service errors, especially early, against Del Lago and only five the entire match against Mendez.
The other trait of this team is the players are all athletes.
Hastings was the South Bay League Most Valuable Player on the always powerful boys water polo team. Despite being limited by a back injury, Dupree was a basketball player. And Thomas played quarterback.
“There are some things that carry over,” Mathews said. “For example, the quarterback of the football team runs the offense, and that’s just what Thomas does for us.
Three players are graduating. You can bet if Mathews wasn’t worried about looking too far ahead this year, he’ll have realistic expectations in the future.