Marina’s place in the postseason was not guaranteed, but in the end, the Vikings did their best to justify their at-large selection with a thrilling swan song.

They very nearly pulled their season off the chopping block, battling back from two sets down and earning a pair of match points, before the abrupt conclusion.

Senior opposite Jayda Jones had a team-leading 15 kills, but the host Vikings fell to Lakewood Saint Joseph 26-24, 25-14, 19-25, 20-25, 16-14 on Wednesday in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.

“I’m really proud of how we did, despite losing,” Jones said. “We all came out and gave it our all. Even though we lost, we came out making many memories and having wins. Whether it was wins or losses, we made memories that we’ll always remember throughout all of our volleyball careers.”

Marina (19-17) found itself in a bracket with a couple of league rivals in automatic qualifiers Corona del Mar (22-9) and Huntington Beach (21-13), the latter two finishing in a tie for third in the Sunset League.

“Even though we lost those games, it’s like we deserve to be here,” Jones said. “We deserve to be in this division, and we proved it by coming out and giving it our all.”

Saint Joseph (18-15), which last year advanced to the Division 3 quarterfinals, roared back from an 18-10 deficit to steal the first set, then again showcased its ability to play under pressure in erasing two match points.

Down 14-12 in the fifth set, Ashlyn Young blasted a kill to take care of the first. Then the Jesters gambled, selling out for the block at the left pin against Jones. Riley Jaklevick and Ainsley Reimer came through with the double denial.

A pair of hitting errors later — two of 10 in the contest for the Vikings — the Jesters had claimed the match.

“That’s a fantastic team over there,” Saint Joseph coach Joshua Nehls, in his second year with the Jesters, said of Marina. “They played their hearts out. There was some ebbs and flows on energy and momentum. I think we just got the best of it at the end.

“We were in a great opportunity at the end there. We knew they were going to go back to their opposite, so we committed on the first one, got the block, committed on the second one, because I felt like our opposite could solo block their outside, or force her into an error or get a block. It just happened to work out.”

The Jesters possessed ample size in the front row, led by Reimer, who had three solo blocks and five block assists. Samantha Zabala added two solo blocks and four block assists.

Jaklevick had a match-best 19 kills, complemented by Sophia Gonsalves’ 16 kills. Emma Lum Lee provided 21 assists, nine kills, and five service aces. Saint Joseph had 14 aces as a team, including three each from Makayla Artolachipe and Kate DeRuyter.

Marina’s prospects appeared to take a hit with Korynn Mayo, a star outside hitter the previous three seasons for the Vikings, transferring to Orange Lutheran. Still, the Vikings found a way back to the playoffs.

“Our team is who our team is,” Marina coach Ryan Parker said. “It’s been about five different significant lineups throughout the year, figuring things out, what works right now, what works in the future. I think a lot of that adversity was hard to overcome, but I felt that we did a good job, at least on the mental side of things.”

Senior outside hitter Selai Taumoefolau had 13 kills for Marina. Junior outside hitter Rylee Hartwell added 10 kills and four aces.

Calleigh Barry and Cienna Enriquez each had 15 assists, and Jaden Pua had three kills and four block assists.

“A lot of our bigger wins, or bigger matches, have been with us either getting the reverse sweep, or getting close to the reverse sweep,” Parker added. “Through all that adversity, the bright side of going through those, as much as it puts gray hairs on your head, is you got a little bit of confidence in your back pocket, that no matter where the score gets, you know you’re in it. You got a shot.”

Also in the CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball playoffs:

Corona del Mar 3, Claremont 0: Sofia Dajnowiec had 29 kills to lead the third-seeded Sea Kings to a 25-21, 25-16, 25-21 win to open the Division 3 playoffs at home on Wednesday.

Isabella Spinella added 45 assists and eight aces for CdM, which plays at La Cañada Flintridge Prep (21-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. Savannah Dennis had 12 digs.

Pasadena La Salle 3, Huntington Beach 1: The host Oilers dropped their playoff opener 25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 28-26 on Wednesday in the Division 3 bracket.

Yucca Valley Joshua Springs Christian 3, Liberty Christian 0: The visiting Minutemen finished their season with an overall record of 15-7.