Volleyball

a 1-0 lead.

The second set was close throughout with neither team holding more than a two-point edge until Glendale won set point at 25-22.

“It was just great for the whole team to start playing really the way we'd been playing the last couple of weeks,” Wong said. “There were 16 ties and six lead changes in the second set alone.”

Lane was the biggest reason the Wildcats came alive in the second frame, going swing for swing and kill for kill with Glendale's star outside hitter Aleina Manaois,

who finished with a gamehigh 28 kills on 74 swings.

MA took its first lead of any kind at 5-4 in the second and led by a single point on six different occasions — the last of which came at 18-17. Manaois had three kills down the stretch and got some help from freshman Eileen Herrera, who added two late kills, as Glendale took control of the match at 2-0.

MA finally took a lead it could protect in the third set, pulling ahead for good at 4-3 on Lane's 14th kill of the match. Harris then sprang to life with a flurry of kills and blocks as MA pushed its lead to 15-10.

“She's been a force blocking all season and she got her hands on a couple,”

Wong said. “Our ball control allowed us to get her a little bit more involved so that helped.”

After being limited to one kill in the first two sets, Harris had five over the course of the third. Corsello had back-to-back kills to give MA a 21-13 lead then Harris had two kills in three points to give MA a handful of set points at 2418. MA secured the third set on a service error by Glendale to climb back into the match, trailing 2-1.

The fourth set played out much like the second did, with MA only holding a pair of one-point leads at 5-4 and 6-5. The Nitros never allowed the Wildcats to get on a roll and instead pulled away themselves with a 6-0 run to go in front 15-9.

From there, the Nitros turned to Manaois to get

them across the finish line.

“Her range was huge,” Wong said of Manaois. “She could hit pretty much any set that was put up and she could hit a lot of different zones on the court. … She was really a complete offensive player.”

The junior outside hitter had three consecutive kills for 19-12 and added two more by the time Glendale extended its lead to 21-15. Herrera had a pair of late kills as Glendale secured the fourth set to end the match.

“It's been a fun run,” Wong said. “We've improved every week. That part has been really rewarding to see — peaking at the end of the season, which you aspire to see.”

MA graduates seven seniors — Lane, Greta Borland, libero Kirsten Wang, setter Bailey Barmaki, Kayla Saxon, Gracie Felsenthal and Noa FriedmanLowenthal. The Wildcats had plenty of underclassmen playing key roles this season, including freshmen Harris and Alegra Huck, plus sophomores Courtney Wang and Corsello.

“I think this experience will really help lay the foundation for next season,” Wong said.

The state championship appearance was the deepest postseason run for MA since the Wildcats won the D-V state title in 2004 with a core of Jackie Adlam, Claire Holton-Basaldua, Caroline Levin and Sandra Sears.

“It's been a fun run. We've improved every week. That part has been really rewarding to see — peaking at the end of the season, which you aspire to see.”

— Craig Wong, girls volleyball coach, Marin Academy