Five years is a long time to wait it seems.

The Mary Star High girls volleyball team can officially wait no more.

A rough first set was all it took to wake up the Stars out of potential nightmare, and utter frustration would later become complete domination as they rolled past visiting St. Mary's Academy of Inglewood with a 14-25, 25-16, 25-10, 25-6 victory in front of a raucous crowd that supported the Stars on every big play and every crucial point to claim the Santa Fe League championship in the 2014 season finale.

"(Winning league is) exhilarating," Mary Star senior opposite hitter Evelyn Pronovost said with uncontainable joy. "We worked hard for this the whole season and to see our hard work pay off in front of the entire school made it all worthwhile. It's great to bring a league championship back to Mary Star girls volleyball."

Yes it certainly was for Pronovost and the rest of the Stars, as they clinched their first league crown since 2009 when they won the Camino Real League championship, but Mary Star (14-10 overall, 9-1 league) overcame a rugged first set where the Belles (7-15, 4-6) were eager to put an embarrassing three-set loss to Bell-Jeff of Burbank behind them. After a game-opening ace from sophomore setter Angela Pisano, the Stars fell behind 17-5 and would never recover.

"We were frustrated with ourselves because we knew we didn't play to our full potential," Pisano said. "But it also motivated us to play harder the next game."

And the Stars would do just that.

Pronovost, sophomore outside hitters Ally Spillane and Lexi Andrie, along with the clutch rally-saving digs of senior libero Hope Marinkovich allowed the Stars to win the second set going away. Spillane's five kills and five aces played an integral part during that second set.

"She is an amazing player," Pisano said of Spillane. "I'm very proud of Ally as she helped the team out a lot with her amazing serves and hits."

Even though the match was tied 1-1, Mary Star had seized the momentum and would ride it into the third and fourth sets, where they only trailed once, 4-1 at the start of the third set, but the play of Pronovost, who finished with a season-high of 12 kills and three aces, along with the inspired play of Marinkovich, helped turn the match into a runaway victory...

And soon enough, the celebration was on after sophomore middle blocker Gianna Fletcher's match-ending kill.

"(Evelyn & Hope) have completed the family our team has become," said Andrie, who finished with nine kills and two aces for Mary Star. "They are great leaders and led us to victory in all our league matches. I couldn't be any prouder of our seniors as they played amazing tonight and really made their last league home match count."

Spillane had a well-balanced effort with 12 kills, 8 aces and 9 digs for the Stars, who swept St. Mary's Academy on October 16 in the first meeting. Pisano finished with 23 assists, 3 aces and 7 digs, while Marinkovich had 16 digs. Sophomore Kaitlyn Martinez had four kills, two aces and a block.

The support of the home fans was also uplifting for Mary Star.

"When we were getting a little frustrated on the court, we heard them cheer for us and it calmed us down hearing all the support from our families and friends," Pronovost said. "We could feel their energy and we definitely fed off of it."

Mary Star finishes the regular season on a high as they now prepare for the CIF-Southern Section Division IV-A playoffs where they likely could receive a first-round home match.