The final home game of Magnolia Johnson and Sasha Urban's career went off without a hitch, mostly. The Mariners did drop a set, but defeated Alameda 3-1 on Wednesday in Kentfield. Johnson and Urban excelled while the six-man squad from Marin showed no signs of fatigue as they took down the Cougars. The two teams split the opening two sets before Marin took the final two sets to clinch the match.
The final set proved to be the most hard fought as neither team gave an inch. Marin opened with a 12-8 lead but that quickly shrunk to 19-18. The Mariners had a chance to put the match away at 24-23 but allowed a reversal of fortune and were up against it, trailing 25-24. Their defense held strong and with serve and a 27-26 lead, the Mariners capitalized on a hitting error by Alameda to clinch the match with a 28-26 fourth set victory.
Limited by injuries and illness the Mariners began the match with only a sextet of players. Johnson, the usual starting libero, wore white and played all over the floor. The change of position did not phase Johnson, nor Marin, who took the opening set 25-21.
The second set saw the Cougars draw their claws as they emphatically tied the match with a 25-14 victory. The Mariners fell victim to Alameda' strong attack as well as some self-inflicted errors as they hit negative in the set. Marin regained their composure to begin the third set, taking an early 10-5 lead and extending that by set's end for a 25-19 victory and 2-1 lead in the match.
Urban totaled 11 points and 19 digs in the match for a double double. Johnson was everywhere with three kills, five assists, two aces and 15 digs. Freshman Lara Perry led the Mariners with 16 points from 12 kills, an ace and three total assists. Marin hit .136 in the match with 47 kills and 24 errors in 169 total attacks.
The victory improved the Mariners record to 8-5, good for third place in the BVC. Their final match of the season is Friday, November 15th at Yuba College at 6pm.
