West Valley beach volleyball coach Armen Zakarian called Katie Kishton's and Flor Porras' state runner-up finish a "validation" for everything the Viking pair went through in 2022. Kishton and Porras went 9-1 in the two-day CCCAA Beach Volleyball Pairs Championship at Irvine Valley, dropping the state final to Santa Barbara City College's Emma Crabbe and Kelissa Lemoine 21-15, 21-18.

"They had to bear the weight of so many matches for us this year," Zakarian said. "They came out this weekend and took care of business."

As smooth as Friday's first day was for Kishton and Porras - they went 6-0 - day two was rife with reverse-sweep comebacks against familiar NorCal foes. Kishton/Porras opened Championship Saturday with a round-of-16 match against Coast rivals Erin Eschleman and Lindsay Heller from Cabrillo. The two teams had faced off May 6 in the NorCal title match won by Kishton and Porras at West Valley. Eschleman and Heller had revenge on their mind at Irvine Valley, as they rolled to an easy 21-12 win in the first set. 

But, the Viking pair rebounded for a 21-19 second-set win and then held off the Seahawks pair 15-10 in the third. The win set up a state quarterfinal match with Coast nemises Kylee Moore and Theresa Ocho of Monterey Peninsula. 

The teams split their regular season matches, and Moore and Ochoa pulled out a three-set thriller to win the Coast Conference pairs title. This time, the match had the highest-possible consequence.

Kishton and Porras again found themselves on the short end of the opening set, falling 21-17

"They were just better than us in the first set," said Zakarian. "But we figured out our game and began trying to attack the right parts of the court."

It worked. Kishton and Porras took the second set 21-16, setting up their second consecutive three-setter. And, an epic third set it was. With the Vikings clinging to a 14-13 lead , Zakarian called a timeout, much to the chagrin of his pair.

"They said they had this and wanted to keep playing," he said. "But, I insisted." The Lobos served into the net out of the timeout and the Vikings had the 15-13 win and a spot in the state semifinal against Sierra's Nicole Taggart and Corinne Williams. Taggart and Williams had just finished off Irvine Valley's Jaclyn Sanchez and Emily Guenter 14-21, 21-17, 15-6. The Kishton/Porras vs. Taggart/Williams semifinal didn't go three, but it was equally as epic as both teams' quarterfinals.

Way back on March 4 at Sierra, the Wolverine pair had stopped Kishton and Porras in an intense battle 23-25, 21-17, 15-13.

"I'm not sure anyone saw Sierra and West Valley in the state semifinal, especially as good as Cabrillo and Feather River were this year," added Zakarian. "A lot of people didn't think there was more to the north than (Cabrillo and Feather River)."

Taggart and Williams jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the opening set. After a technical timeout, the Sierra pair made it 15-8 and Zakarian requested a WVC timeout. After the break, Kishton and Porras began "slowly chipping away" to close to within 18-15. WVC outscored Sierra 6-1 to end a 13-4 run and take set one 21-19. Set two was much the same, as Kishton and Porras had a 13-8 lead and Taggart and Williams rallied to tie it at 21-21 before WVC eked out a 25-23 nailbiter for a berth in the state championship. Zakarian called the second set "really good sideout volleyball from both teams."

The championship pitted Zakarian, who played and coached at SBCC, against his former player, Vaquero Head Coach Ariana Garner. 

"I guess I did a good job coaching her," laughed Zakarian. "I have so much respect for that program."

Both championship sets were close, but Crabbe and Lemoine, the south's #2 seed, pulled out the win.

"They were better than us defensively," said Zakarian. "They were just the better team today."

2021-22 was a watershed year for Zakarian's "Viking Volley" program. His indoor team won the Coast-South and NorCal championships, and finished as runner-up in the 2021 CCCAA Volleyball State Championships.

"We were the only program in the state to make both the indoor and beach pairs championships," concluded a proud Zakarian. "And much of that is a tribute to Kishton and Porras. They just went off!"