College of Marin Beach Volleyball took on the College of San Mateo Bulldogs for second time in as many weeks on Wednesday. Their neutral site matchup took place on the beaches of Santa Cruz where the Mariners fell by the narrowest of margins 3-2.
Erika Eide and Marissa Morris teamed up in the fives spot and went down to the Bulldogs 21-12 and 21-13. Marin's top pairing of Makenzie Dugan and Salomi Galodamu suffered a similar fate as they dropped their match in straight sets 21-13 and 21-12.
The twos, threes and fours each played in a fantastically entertaining duel.
Magnolia Johnson and Natasha Saccardi took on the twos from San Mateo. They fell in the opening set 21-15 but rebounded to take the second 21-14. With the match on the line, they dug deep and pulled out a 15-13 win for the Mariners.
Kailani Kwan-Sy and Francesca Varagnolo took part in a similarly dramatic match. They took the first set 21-14 but fell in the second 21-17. They snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with an epic 18-16 third set to tie up the overall match at 2-2.
The deciding match was the threes of Lara Perry and Jade Williams for Marin. They battled but took a first set loss 23-21 before responding with a 21-13 second set win. It came down to the wire, but the Bulldogs grabbed the final set 15-12 to take the overall match 3-2.
It was a wineless day for the Mariners, but they played their best volleyball of the season. They have a week off before they travel to Sierra College to take on Fresno City and Gavilan Colleges on Friday, March 6th.