Mar Vista Volleyball Go Undefeated in League For Fifth Straight Championship

Not only did the Mar Vista boys’ volleyball team go undefeated in the South Bay League and capture a Championship, they did it for the fifth straight year.

The Mariners finished the season 22-9 overall, 12-0 in league.

Joe Penolio has been the team's coach for the last six years. Five of those years his team went undefeated in the South Bay League, now advancing to a 58-0 league record.

 “Going undefeated meant a lot because we are continuing a tradition and the team felt it was their responsibility to uphold it,” Penolio said. “It was a great season.”

Penolio said last year the team's weakness was a lack of experience and he foresaw that as an issue again this season with only three returning Varsity players, and so Penolio moved a few of the players down to Junior Varsity so they could gain needed experience. Not only did this prepare them for next season, he said, it also lead to a winning JV record. 

Even with a young team and little outside experience, a few players stood out in a big way.

“Our standout players were Second Team All-South Bay Jeremy Echeverria, our senior setter who ran our offense, First Team All-South Bay Luis Alvarez, our senior defensive specialist and our junior outside hitter Valtri Holland, the South Bay Player of the Year, who led the league in kills,” Penolio said. “These three players, without them, would not have lead to a winning season.”

Alvarez and Holland made First Team All-South Bay League.  Max Uribe and Echeverria made Second Team and Holland was South Bay League Player of the Year.

Echeverria led the team with a whopping 760 assists, he also recorded 43 serving aces. Alvarez had a team high 313 digs and had 31 serving aces. Holland finished the season with 348 kills, 27 blocks and 155 digs.

“Our season went as well as expected, although we would have liked to advance further in the playoffs,” Penolio said. “This years’ team progressively got better as the season went on.”

The Mariners lost 3-1 to Canyon Crest Academy in their first game of the Division III playoffs.

“We won the first set then lost the next three sets. It was hard fought, however, a few of our players picked a bad day to have a bad game,” Penolio said. “Our team learned to play with confidence in the latter part of the season, but because of the lack of competition in our league, it didn’t prepare them for the tougher teams in the playoffs.”

Penolio said ball control was the key to his team running the offense. Passing serves and free balls led to many scoring opportunities for them.

Next season will bring new players and new challenges, but the goal will remain the same -- to go undefeated in league with a championship.