Marymount Spikes to Regional Title

"Big things" may have earned her Player of the Match honors, but Marymount High senior Lanti Moye-McLaren claimed it was the "little things" that enabled the second-seeded Sailors to upset top-seeded Los Alamitos on Tuesday night in the Southern California Regional volleyball finals. 

Moye-McLaren had 18 kills, including nine in the third set, and added 17 digs despite playing with an injured rib, but afterwards she ignored the pain long enough to savor a 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 victory.

"We focused on doing the small things right, like off-blocker defense, calling for tips, reaching over on blocks, stuff like that," Moye-McLaren said. "We're a team that plays together and we win because everyone does their part."

In a showdown of CIF Southern Section Division 1 champions, Moye-McLaren's hitting, Lauren Greskovics-Fuller's passing and Christine Irvin's digging proved too much for the host Griffins, who lost for only the second time in 23 matches.

Irvin, a senior libero, finished with 34 digs and 15 assists, setter Greskovics-Fuller dished out 50 assists, sister Manon Greskovics-Fuller had 11 kills and 11 digs and junior middle blocker Kaity Edwards added eight kills for Marymount (33-4-1), which faces defending champion Palo Alto (35-3) for the state title Saturday at Concordia University in Irvine.

"We came from behind in the fifth game in the CIF finals against Corona del Mar and in the fourth game in the [regional] semifinals [against Newport Harbor], so we've been down before," Lauren Greskovics-Fuller said. "We don't give up no matter what. We all really want to win and that's why we get up early every morning for practice."

Coach Cari Klein has steered the Sailors to eight Southern Section titles, six regional crowns and five state championships since taking over the program in 1998, but she admitted Tuesday's victory was nerve-racking.

"The girls are in great shape and I'm sure they could've kept playing but I did not want it to go five," Klein said. "I was exhausted by the fourth game and I wasn't even playing."

Marymount, the Southern Section Division 1A champion, is usually the favorite but that was not the case against the Division 1AA champion Griffins, who had dealt the Sailors their first loss of the season in the semifinals of the Durango Tournament in September.

"We'd played them before so I had a feel for the rhythm and tempo of their sets and that was kind of the same," Klein said. "Last time they jumped on us quick and served us off the court. After the first game [tonight] I wanted us to get down to business and not waste too much energy celebrating after every point."

Los Alamitos entered Tuesday's match on fire, having won 21 of 22 sets in the sectional and regional playoffs.

"Sometimes it's nice being the underdogs," Irvin said. "After they beat us we made a pact that if we played them again we would go all-out and tonight we definitely proved ourselves."

Marymount opened the second set on a 12-3 run to silence the packed crowd and the Sailors went on to level the best-of-five match. Moye-McLaren had nine kills in the third stanza alone, including three in a row off bump sets from Irvin that gave Marymount a 20-13 advantage. Freshman Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani ended the set with a spike for one of her eight kills.

Sophomore middle blocker Crissy Jones, who sprained an ankle in the Griffins' semifinal win three days earlier, had eight kills and seven blocks while Jaylen Villanueva had 12 kills and JoJo Schnabl added 10 for Los Alamitos (37-4).

In the fourth set, Lauren Greskovics-Fuller's ace serve put Marymount ahead to stay, 15-14, and a service error on the Sailors' second match point ended it.

"We rely on being versatile," said Dave Huber, who was an assistant coach when the Griffins netted back-to-back state titles in 2005-06 and became head coach the next year. "Playing at this level you can't be predictable, you have to mix it up. They didn't do much differently, but they played defense and extended the points. They're one of the best teams in Southern California and they certainly got the better of us tonight."

Palo Alto, the Central Coast Section champion, is riding a 20-match win streak and has not dropped a set in the postseason. The Vikings are led by 6-foot-5 middle blocker Melanie Wade, outside hitter Maddie Kuppe and opposite hitter Caroline Martin. Northern California schools won four of the five divisions last year, including Palo Alto's five-set victory over Long Beach Poly.

"I'm not worried about a letdown," Moye-McLaren said of Saturday's match. "It's the [state] finals so whoever we play will be tough. We just have to focus on the small things because that's what got us to this point."

CIF DIVISION I STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday, Dec. 3

At Concordia University, Irvine

Los Angeles Marymount (33-4-1) vs. Palo Alto (35-3), 7 p.m.

Directions to Concordia University: Take Pacific Coast Highway to I-10 East. Merge onto the 405 South towards Long Beach. Take Exit 4 for University Drive toward Jeffrey Road. Turn right onto University Drive. Turn left onto Ridgeline Drive. Turn right onto Concordia (campus will be on left).