Mar Vista Volleyball Ready for Another League Title

Mar Vista men’s volleyball head coach Joe Penolio and the Mariners have their work cut out for them.

After finishing undefeated in league last year, the volleyball team is looking to bring home another banner this season.

That's not an easy task, especially with a brand new team. But the Mariners aren’t too worried. Their plan remains the same.

“My goal is always to win league and advance in the CIF playoffs,” Penolio said.

“We have won the South Bay League title the last four years and during that time our record was 46-0.”

With a 3-0 win against Sweetwater High School last Friday, the Mariners move to 5-2 overall, 2-0 in league and look poised for a repeat league title. Their next game is against Montgomery on Wednesday.

“I was real happy with our first league win. Olympian came in with a 4-0 record and posed a tough first league game,” Penolio said. “Our team played with a lot of tenacity and fire that was a factor in our victory.”

Penolio has been a coach on the volleyball team for six years. He acted as the assistant for three years, under the tutelage of Robbi Cole, and has been the head coach the last two years.

In his first two years as head coach, Penolio helped lead teams to an impressive 50-21 record and 24-0 in the South Bay League.

“Last season was successful in my opinion,” he said. “We won our league title, had several players recognized and placed on the league’s First Team and All County All Star Team. We advanced to the second round of CIF playoffs.”

The team finished last season 23-12 overall and 12-0 in league.

Even though the Mariners went undefeated in league last year, it doesn’t mean they did it without any struggles.

“I felt we did pretty good last year,” said team captain Valtri Holland. “We went undefeated in league but we could have done a lot better.”

The outside junior hitter said last year's team needed to work on the basics.

“We could have improved on digging and blocking,” Holland said. “Everyone was focused. We just need to work on the little things. We had times where we played really bad for no reason.

Penolio said last year's team struggled with a lack of experience.

Only two players had participated in club programs before the start of the season, and outside experience can give players a much bigger advantage.

“Our only weakness, again this year, will be our experience level,” he said. “With only three returning varsity players, we are a young team once again.”

The team is really looking up to its returning players, Penolio said.

“One of our strengths will be our junior outside hitter, Valtri Holland, and senior libero, Luis Alvarez, who were both all-league players last year,” he said.

“Valtri played for one of the elite club teams, Seaside VBC here in San Diego. He will be, if he is not already, one of the most dominant players in the county. Luis brings leadership and experience to the team as our defensive specialist.”

Penolio said the team is working on every aspect of the game with an emphasis on ball control and defense.

“If our team can convert on a dig and block well, we should do well through the rest of the season,” he said. “As the saying goes, ‘Offense wins games but defense wins championships!’ ”

Holland, 17, led the team with 16 kills and 3 aces in their win over Olympian. He recorded 3 blocks and senior Trevor Barr had 8. Senior Jeremy Echeverria had 37 assists. Senior Luis Alvarez was credited with 20 digs.

“Right now I feel our offense is stronger because our ball control is getting better,” Penolio said. “If we pass well, we can run any set, and we have guys that can put the ball away. Our team's strength will rely on our unselfishness. Each team member is focused on winning a league banner and getting to the playoffs.”

The young team is off to a good start. The Mariners are working on the fundamentals and gaining the experience to increase the level of play.

“As a team, our primary goal is to win the league title, do well in the tournaments, improve our seeding for CIF playoffs and make it to the finals,” Penolio said.

“As a coach, I encourage the team to set individual goals as well. These goals are personal but they must keep in mind that in the end, their individual goals must have a positive effect on our overall team goals.”