The season, much like the San Pedro High girls volleyball team, is young, but the Pirates showed how much they’ve grown in just the first Marine League match of 2015.

In came a revenge-driven Narbonne of Harbor City team eager to atone for their last visit to the San Pedro gym, where they were emphatically swept away in three straight sets and vowed to get their retribution by any means necessary.
However, the heart and perseverance came out of the Pirates, who nearly blew a two-game deficit but managed to stave off the Gauchos in a 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 15-11 thriller to open the Marine League in exciting fashion Tuesday. After losing in nine straight matches, San Pedro (4-4 overall) has now won the last two meetings.
“That’s what happens when you buy into the system,” San Pedro coach Chris Ceballos said.
Narbonne (3-4, 0-1) would go up 8-4 in the deciding fifth set, but the Pirates would battle back to tie it at 8-8 on a service ace by sophomore setter Amya Crouch, one of her six aces on the day. After the two teams traded points, a solid kill from freshman outside hitter Sara Peterson put San Pedro ahead to stay at 10-9, then a kill by freshman outside hitter Hadley Grooms, followed by a booming ace from Peterson made it 12-9.
A quick side-out and point made it 12-11, but a service error by Narbonne junior defensive specialist Faith Arroyo would be the final straw, as back-to-back kills by Grooms and sophomore middle blocker Rebecca Alvarenga would seal the deal, and the match for the Pirates.
“I t has been so amazing getting the opportunity to play so well against Narbonne for the past two years. It makes me so honored to be a part of this program,” said San Pedro senior setter Brianna Corallo, who played a pivotal role in last year’s 25-16, 25-12, 25-19 victory over Narbonne which salvaged a split of the season series.
The combined serving of Corallo (7 aces), Crouch, Peterson (5 aces, 20 digs, 9 kills) and junior outside hitter Katie Bentovoja (4 aces, 5 kills) would stake the Pirates to a 2-0 lead, and a brief 21-20 lead in the third set after a Corallo ace, but Narbonne stormed back to seize momentum and tie the match up.
However San Pedro was never fully out of it, rallying from a 13-6 deficit in the fourth set to take a brief 19-18 advantage, leading in all five sets of the match.
“I feel like we just needed that little extra push in order to get our engines running again,” Corallo said. “We had kind of burned out in the end of the third set, letting Narbonne back in, but once we got some of our energy back, the match was ours.”
Peterson’s sparkling play has been the catalyst for San Pedro ever since her arrival, especially during the pressure-packed, tense-filled deciding fifth set. “I felt really proud of myself and had much confidence at that moment,” said Peterson, whose timely serves was crucial in their comeback.
It was the second time in six days where San Pedro went the distance in a match, falling short in a five-set loss at Serra of Gardena in their true season opener last Wednesday where the Pirates ran out of gas after making a crazy comeback in the fourth set down 21-11 to win that set with 14 unanswered points.
This time, the Pirates were able to gain their second wind, persevere and prevail.
“This is pretty amazing,” Peterson said. “I am very proud of this team. All the hard work we put in practices really had a great impact on this match against Narbonne.”
Expect the rematch on October 8 at Narbonne to be another barn-burner, but until then, the next match for San Pedro is Thursday against visiting Gardena.