College of Marin opened their third season of Beach Volleyball with a home match against the Foothill College Owls on Wednesday. Though the Mariners went down 5-0 to their opponents from the Peninsula, it is apparent the team improved leaps and bounds from previous years.
The Mariners' day began with Erika Eide and Francesca Varagnolo taking on the fifth pair from Foothill Alexis Early and Sienna Segura. The Mariners' pair was successful early, earning a first set victory of 21-16. They struggled in the second matchup, falling 21-8 but had a chance to win the match in the third set. It was highly contested, however Foothill's Early and Segura grabbed the win 15-12 to decide the match.
The first set victory by Eide and Varagnolo turned out to be the only set the Mariners would win on the day.
The threes and fours of Marin competed after the fives matchup. The fourth Marin pair consisted of Charlene Abuda and Kailani Kwan-Sy. They took on Deedah Rahnuma and Lia Zlobinsky of Foothill. The first set was decidedly one sided as Foothill grabbed the win 21-2, but Abuda and Kwan-Sy did not give up and nearly took the second set, before falling 21-19.
Lara Perry and Jade Williams were Marin's number three pair in the match as they battled against Emily Periera and Alaina Valenzuela in what would prove to be the deciding pairing. Foothill took the first 21-9 and held off a late charge by Perry and Williams to win the set 21-14 and clinch the match for the visiting Owls.
Magnolia Johnson and Natasha Saccardi represented Marin in the two's match against Foothill's Mel O'Rourke and Leanna Zamora. It was as highly competitive and entertaining duel that saw the visitors win the match in straight sets 23-21 and 21-15.
Marin's last hope for a win was in the hands of the top seeds Makenzie Dugan and Salomi Galodamu. They could not deliver a win, but were certainly capable in a 21-13 and 21-19 straight set loss.
Though the Mariners failed to take the match, they showed early on that they can compete against the best in the state.
They have just hours between matches as they take on the West Valley Vikings later in the day.
