Its campus and enrollment are tiny, however Marymount Excessive is a huge on the planet of highschool volleyball and this yr’s squad seems to have the expertise to compete for a championship.
The Sailors took first place out of 64 groups on the prestigious Durango Fall Traditional in Las Vegas, taking down rival Sierra Canyon, 21-25, 25-15, 25-12, within the last on Sept. 20. Senior hitter and Washington commit Sammy Destler was named the event’s most precious participant.
Marymount didn’t drop a set en path to the Hawaiian Island Labor Day Traditional title in Hilo in late August. Final weekend in Phoenix, the Sailors superior to the championship match of the Platinum Division on the Nike Event of Champions Southwest, falling to reigning Southern Part Division 1 champion Mater Dei. The 2 packages may meet once more within the CIF playoffs in November.
For these protecting rating, that makes three finals and two titles at three tournaments in three totally different states over 4 weeks towards the most effective competitors within the nation — simply the best way head coach Cari Klein likes it.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Instances)
“Profitable Durango was enormous … and really enjoyable,” stated Klein, who reached the 700-win plateau early this season, her twenty eighth on the all-girls Catholic faculty with 350 college students throughout the road from UCLA. “These final two years we’ve gotten higher the second day. Then enjoying TOC proper after is a tricky turnaround. It’s a number of journey and a number of volleyball.”
Three Sailors joined Destler on the all-tournament crew in Durango: senior setter Olivia Penske (dedicated to Georgetown), junior hitter Makenna Barnes (an early Northwestern commit who has pounded a team-best 217 kills) and junior center/reverse hitter and Stanford seaside commit Katelyn Oerlemans, who leads the crew with 63 blocks.
The roster additionally options senior center blocker and Southern Methodist commit Elle Vandeweghe, senior center blocker Frankie Jones (Brown), senior outdoors hitter Presley Jones (Amherst), senior libero Declan Eastman (Rice) and senior reverse hitter Grace Jamison (Lafayette).
Marymount misplaced to Mater Dei in among the best finals in event historical past (28-26 within the third set) at Durango one yr in the past.
Ladies’ volleyball coach Cari Klein has racked up greater than 700 wins throughout her 28 seasons at Marymount Excessive.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Instances)
“Individuals don’t notice how few college students we’ve or how academically-oriented it’s,” Klein stated. “Our women have their books out in between each recreation. They’re finding out on buses, on trains, in hallways … any likelihood they get to do schoolwork.”
Having performed the game herself (she was a state MVP at Irvine Excessive in 1988 then an All-West Coast Convention hitter at Pepperdine), Klein calls for a number of her gamers, however she additionally tries to make the each day routine enjoyable, value getting up on the break of day. Her motto is a tough observe makes a straightforward recreation.
Destler, who began enjoying for Klein’s Sunshine Volleyball Membership when she was 8, takes that message to coronary heart. After Marymount was dealt its first loss at Redondo Union on Sept 2, she said: “We’ve observe at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow and I’ve to love it.”
The Sailors (29-3) are off to their finest begin because the 2021 crew that completed 35-0, successful 92 of 100 units within the course of, and earned Klein PrepVolleyball.com nationwide highschool coach of the yr honors.
Of the 20 gamers on varsity, eight are seniors and 9 are juniors.
“This crew is just like the 2021 crew,” Klein stated. “What’s totally different is that these seniors 4 years in the past have been so hungry as a result of they misplaced their junior yr to COVID-19.”
Marymount’s longest drought between part finals appearances in Klein’s tenure is 5 seasons (2013 to 2017), so the crew is about due. She additionally desires so as to add one other participant of the yr to these she has already mentored — Haley Jorgensborg (2001); Stesha Selsky (2002 and 2003); Kelly Irvin (2005); Lauren Greskovics-Fuller (2011); and Elia Rubin (2021).
“There are 9 or 10 groups in our part that might actually give us a match,” stated Klein, who has steered the Sailors to 10 Southern Part titles (together with a report six in a row from 2001 to 2006), eight regional crowns and 7 state championships since taking up this system in 1998. “Huntington Seashore, Los Alamitos, Sierra Canyon, Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita, Redondo, Mira Costa, Harvard-Westlake, Mater Dei — all very onerous to beat. And if you happen to get to the subsequent stage, there are 4 San Diego colleges which might be actually robust too. CIF is stacked.”
Along with the postseason success, Marymount has gained 24 league titles beneath Klein. So as to add to that whole, it should beat Sierra Canyon, which defeated the Sailors 3 times final season. The primary of the colleges’ two Mission League conferences is Monday night time in Chatsworth.
In a single regard, a bit title in 2025 can be sweeter than the others for Klein as a result of she misplaced her house within the Palisades fireplace in January, as did a few of her gamers. She has been residing in Playa del Rey along with her husband, former Palisades Excessive quarterback Perry Klein.
“We’ve all needed to take care of it already, however a number of women in this system have been affected and the youthful membership gamers as nicely,” she stated. “It’s a reasonably emotional yr for Marymount.”
