Historic volleyball win

Eagles beat Marin for first time

Jade Sanford predicted it.
The Eagles bought into it.
“I told the team before the game that we were going to win,” said Sanford, Laney College’s head women’s volleyball coach. “And it was a good feeling among the players that they could.”
What “it” was was an improbable 18–25, 25–23, 13–25, 25–23, 15–10 home victory against the College of Marin on Nov. 6.
It was the first victory ever against the Mariners and it was also the first victory ever against a team that it considered in the top tier (along with Solano College, Yuba College and Napa Valley College) of teams in the Bay Valley Conference.
Both teams were somewhat depleted. According to Sanford, Marin had recently cut two middle hitters from the team and arrived at Laney with no reserve players.
But the Eagles were also without some of their claws; through attrition they only had one reserve player.
[caption id=”attachment_2152" align=”alignright” width=”300"]

Gailyn Red Elk (10) goes up for a kill during Laney’s five-game victory over the College of Marin on Nov. 6 in Oakland.[/caption]Laney dropped the first game, but came back to win the second in a tight battle. It didn’t carry over into the third game as the Eagles appeared to be tiring, but the fourth game ended with the same score as the second to prolong the action.
Then it was onto to the fifth and final game — a territory rare for the Eagles. By rules, the first four games of a match go to 25 points; the fifth goes to 15.
Laney had struggled for four games; the fifth was no exception. The Eagles went out to a 12–4 lead, but the Mariners fought back to within 12–10. Sanford had called a couple of timeouts and that seemed to calm down her troops.
A mis-hit Marin kill gave the Eagles their 15th and final point for the victory.
Bridgett Brewer had 19 kills and Morgan Warren 15 to lead Laney. Gailyn Red Elk had 12. Cassandra Rodriguez had 41 assists.
The Eagles actually had a two-game winning streak, defeating Contra Costa College 25–19, 25–19, 25–11, on Nov. 4 in San Pablo.
Warren had 13 kills and Rodriguez had 23 assists. Shayla Robillard led Laney with four service aces. It was the second time Laney had defeated the Comets this season.