Sailor Sisters

By STEVE GALLUZZO  |  Sports Editor

When the last ball was struck and the victory was finally won in the CIF Open Division state championship match November 20 at Santiago College in Orange, no one was more elated than Marymount High volleyball players Paige and Maren Pennell. The twin sisters got to celebrate the moment not only with each other, but also with their father Chris, who knows a thing or two about perfection.

Marymount’s 25-11, 25-5, 25-14 sweep of San Jose Archbishop Mitty added the exclamation point to an undefeated season in which the Sailors won 35 straight matches, dropping only eight sets along the way—the most dominant performance by a Westside team since Palisades High’s boys squad finished 34-0-1 and won 83 of 85 games (now called sets) on its way to the City Section 4A title in 1986. Chris Pennell was a senior for the Dolphins that year and the parallels between the two teams are compelling. The proudest moment of his life, however, was watching his two daughters experience the same joy, excitement and relief that he did 35 years earlier.       

“We definitely got our competitiveness from him, but he didn’t push us into volleyball,” says Paige, who likes to tease her sibling that she is older by two minutes. “He’s always cheering loudly. We hear him. He’s a parent who knows what he’s talking about!

Maren subbed in to serve match point, a memory she will cherish forever.

“What could be better? I got to serve the last great moment of our season!  The seniors on this team are so special. We’re all so close on and off the court.”

Contributing to the program’s eighth state crown was an early birthday present for the twins, who turned 18 three days later. Although they admit they are super competitive, they are also each other’s staunchest supporters.

It helps that the two play different positions: Maren is a libero and defensive specialist while Paige is an outside and opposite hitter.     

“Maren’s going to get the ball up no matter what,” Paige says. “She’ll get to balls no else can!”

“Paige sees the court really well and she’s so positive,” Maren says. “If you makes a mistake, she’s the first one to encourage you.”

They were pepper partners in the backyard for as long as they can remember and like most of their teammates they play for Sunshine Volleyball Club, run by Marymount Coach and Palisadian Cari Klein.

In a Los Angeles Times article previewing the City final in 1986, in which Palisades swept Chatsworth at Pepperdine, then Dolphins coach Howard Enstedt described Chris Pennell as the glue holding together a team of future Olympians and collegiate All-Americans like Kent Steffes, Kevin Shepard, Adam Unger, Ryan O’Hara and J.B. Saunders.

For Klein, the Pennell sisters filled a similar roll this season on a Sailors roster loaded with Division I-bound talent.

“They’re such an inspiration to the other girls,” Klein says. “They provided so much energy all year.

Maren is someone dependable who can play anywhere. She’s great in the back row. Paige battled through a torn labrum  injury, then sprained her ankle in our first practice this year. I felt so bad but her work ethic is off the charts. She was always there doing whatever she could. I had to kick her out of the gym!”   

Perhaps the teammate who appreciates the Pennell sisters most is Duke commit and lifelong Palisadian Kerry Keefe.

“They’re my favorites,” said Klein, one of several local girls on the team. “I’ve known them since I was in fifth grade at Corpus Christi and they played for St. Paul. I never thought I’d see them again, little did I know then. They’re so different but they’re both so happy. We’ll be friends forever, this was our favorite season and it’s more like a family. Cari invites us all to her house and makes us breakfast in the morning ”

Maren totaled 13 aces and 48 digs in 59 sets played but this season was not about stats for her and her sister, whose courage in the face of adversity was motivation for a team that rarely needed a spark and was  never taken to five sets. Rather, it was about finishing what they started and giving their dad something his Palisades team did not have the opportunity to pursue.

“We know the whole story about that team,” Paige says. “It’s one of the reasons we wanted to finish this off—for him. We did it and we even got one more win!”

Like the Marymount girls in 2021, Palisades was widely regarded as the nation’s best boys team in 1986, when sideout scoring was still being used. In those days there was no boys state tournament, so section playoffs were as far as a team could advance. The Dolphins’ only blemish that year was a tie with El Toro of the Southern Section. University is the only other team that managed to win a game against Palisades.

“It was a lot different back then,” Chris Pennell recalls. “Games were to 15 points and we didn’t have rally scoring. That was a special group of guys but right now it’s all about the girls. Seeing them do what they did reminds me of what me and my teammates did our senior year.”