PANORAMA CITY - What a difference a year makes.

The Mary Star High girls volleyball team truly has come a long way, from going 2-14 in 2013... to now being one game away from a 17th Star in their gymnasium.

Looking to make amends from a an earlier loss to St. Genevieve of Panorama City, the visiting Stars were able to take the game back to the Valiants with an inspired performance from all ten players on the team, eventually rolling to a 25-12, 25-20, 14-25, 25-19 victory that propelled Mary Star into a tie for first place in the Santa Fe League with one match left.

This victory was the Stars' fifth straight in league and avenged a 19-25, 25-10, 25-17, 19-25, 15-9 loss to St. Genevieve on October 14.

"We knew we had to go in there and play our game to earn a victory," said Mary Star sophomore setter Angela Pisano, who spread the ball around for 23 assists while also notching two kills and two aces. "Our mentality was to work hard and to compete in every play. We knew if we did that, we would get a good result."

Mary Star (13-10 overall, 8-1 league) would dominate the first set early on the strength of five kills by sophomore outside hitter Ally Spillane, a pair of kills and aces from sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Martinez, and Pisano's tough serving that turned a 15-9 lead into an insurmountable 24-9 advantage. St. Genevieve (12-7, 8-1) would score three more points before a service error ended the set.

The second set saw the Valiants go up 4-0 early, but then it was sophomore outside hitter Lexi Andrie's turn to take over.

Andrie would take advantage of some shaky positioning from St. Genevieve to power home eight of her team-high 13 kills on varieties of power spikes and tips. Senior libero Hope Marinkovich kept several rallies alive with clutch digs, as did Spillane, who had two kills as the Stars eventually held on to go up 2-0 in the match.

Keeping the momentum building from the first set was all Andrie was trying to do.. and she succeeded.

"I was really proud of how the team responded in that first game," said Andrie, who also had two aces and 8 digs. "I just wanted to do anything I could to help the team win and maintain that fire we had that just kept all of us going."

The fire was turned down a bit by St. Genevieve who won the third set without much problems, but it turned back up a notch at the start of the fourth set by an opening kill by sophomore middle blocker Gianna Fletcher, who had three blocks overall. Spillane, who also had 13 kills, would serve a couple of aces, and sophomore setter Theresa Ibarra also got things going with her serving with three aces.

Fittingly it was Andrie who put the match to rest with a booming kill.

Senior opposite hitter Evelyn Pronovost also stepped up for Mary Star with nine kills and three aces, while Marinkovich had a team-high 19 digs. Pisano also had 10 digs, while Martinez finished with four kills, two aces and a block.

"It was a good team win for us and I'm pleased I was able to get everyone involved for a great play," Pisano said.

Even though the victory was a big one, Mary Star knows they still haven't finished their goal quite yet, as they will host St. Mary's Academy of Inglewood on Monday at 6 pm in pursuit of their first league title since 2009 when they claimed the Camino Real League championship.

"We really need to show up on Monday and finish strong," Andrie says. "I'm incredibly proud of this team as everyone played their best tonight and we played like a team. We're not done yet."