IRVINE — Palo Alto and Presentation rallied to win CIF State volleyball titles Saturday night.
The Vikings won their second straight state title with an incredible fifth-set rally, beating Marymount-Los Angeles 25-17, 25-23, 22-25, 20-25, 17-15 in Division I. Marymount had the momentum and a 13-7 lead in the decisive fifth set, but the Vikings climbed off the carpet to stun the crowd.
Earlier, Presentation capped a magical season with a spectacular comeback to win the Division II title 20-25, 20-25, 26-24, 25-15, 15-9 over La Costa Canyon-Carlsbad.
The Panthers stared down a match point in the third set and not only avoided a sweep, they found an improved block, stiffer defense and passing and a more effective attack to take the next two sets in a stunning five-set win for the school’s first state title.
“It feels insane,” said Presentation’s Emily Sklar. “I don’t think I’ve ever won anything this big before. We made history, the first team to win state.”
Sklar led Presentation with 22 kills and five blocks and Veronica Bither and Alex Sheredy each added eight kills for the Panthers, who finished 39-2 and won WCAL and NorCal titles on the way to the state championships at Concordia College in Irvine. La Costa Canyon was led by Natalie Bausback with 16 kills and Cosette Burnett with 10 kills as it finished 31-9.
“This is a team that never stops believing in themselves,” Presentation coach Sue Dvorak said. “Their size bothered us the first two sets, but then we started hitting smarter so they couldn’t set their girls the way they wanted. We tried to block to take their angle away, and we started executing that better.”
In the late match, Palo Alto scored seven straight points for a 14-13 lead as Melanie Wade smashed two kills, Caroline Martin had one and Maddie Kuppe served an ace.
Each team dodged one match point and then Palo Alto won the contest as Wade belted a winner down the middle and Marymount’s Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani hit wide to end the match.
Palo Alto (36-3) was solid throughout the match, but the Sailors improved their defense and began pounding down balls as they won the third and fourth sets. That formula continued for most of the fifth set.
The Sailors had scored four points in a row to build a 13-7 fifth-set lead when the Vikings erupted.
“None of us ever doubted it,” said Palo Alto libero Shelby Knowles.
After a side-out and a Marymount hitting error, Martin smacked a kill off the block and out. Palo Alto had closed within 13-10 and Marymount called time.
“They were getting really nervous,” Kuppe said. “I could see it every time I served. And that just gave us more confidence.”
Kuppe was on the service line in the big run, which featured two Wade kills, one from Martin and a Kuppe ace. The Vikings’ charge produced a 14-13 lead before a cross-court kill tied the score. Each team then dodged one match point until the final sequence.
“The best part was we won it in southern California,” setter Kimmy Whitson added.
