Ocean View Captures State Title

CYPRESS — It seemed only fitting that team captains Shelby Jameson and Sara Pollaro would put the finishing touches on Ocean View’s dream season.

Pollaro’s spike for a kill gave the Seahawks their first match point, then Jameson put it away with another from the back row and Ocean View had its first volleyball state title in school history.

Jameson’s kill capped the victory for Ocean View, which defeated Forestville El Molino, 15-9, 12-15, 15-3, 15-9, in the state Division III girls’ volleyball final Saturday at Cypress College.

“It’s a great way to end my volleyball career,” Jameson said. “It meant everything to win state. It made it all storybook, a fairy tale.”

Jameson had 12 kills, junior Sharon Shelton also had 12 and junior middle blocker Carissa Gough had 14 to pace a balanced attack quarterbacked by junior setter Tracy Lindquist (50 assists).

And to provide further proof that the Seahawks (22-1) topped the Lions (31-5) with balance and depth, none of those players was named the Division III MVP. That honor went to senior Amy Knebel (nine kills, 15 digs), who has committed to Rhode Island.

Although Saturday’s state title victory was sweet, Ocean View Coach Tim Mennealy said he will savor more than this championship moment.

“This season was about the journey to get to this point,” Mennealy said. “This match was just one little step. I’ll remember more about how we got here.”

Ocean View’s season began with a resounding Division I title at the Orange County Championships. Two weeks ago, the Seahawks won the school’s first Southern Section championship, when they defeated Torrance Bishop Montgomery in five games to claim the Division III-A title.

“Each five-game match we won helped prepare us for this,” Mennealy said. “There were three great teams that weren’t even here--Bishop Montgomery, La Jolla, [North Hollywood] Harvard-Westlake. They probably had just as much right to be here as we did.”

But the Seahawks defeated each of those three teams in five games--topping La Jolla in the Southern California final and Harvard-Westlake in the section Division III-A semifinals.

Ocean View never seemed in much danger of being pushed to five games Saturday, even after El Molino won the second game, 15-12. Although the Lions jumped to a 12-7 lead in that game, the Seahawks made them sweat it out, siding out 13 more times before El Molino iced the victory.

“That was critical to get us going,” Mennealy said.

Ocean View took a 13-0 lead in the third game, with Knebel serving for six consecutive points before the Seahawks closed it out, 15-3.

Then it seemed to be only a matter of time before Ocean View would scale its final “wall.”

Before the season, the Seahawks went on a retreat to Lake Arrowhead where it encountered a team-building exercise involving a 15-foot wall.

“We needed to get everyone over the wall, including Coach Mennealy,” Knebel said. “It looked impossible, but we finally did it. At that point, I thought we could do anything if we set our mind to it.

“So we’d always just tell each other, ‘Remember the wall.’ ”