Marion claims third straight number 1 seed

Marion claims third straight number 1 seed

Lady Pats look to defend crown starting Wednesday

Sports Editor Often times, while playing in front of their home fans inside Patriot Volleyball Gymnasium, a perenniallysuccessful Lady Patriot volleyball team becomes nearly unbeatable.

After all, they hadn’t lost a home match since September 5, 2013, over three years ago.

So, when Lisa Beasley’s troops fell behind Jonesboro 11-3 in the first set on Saturday afternoon, the veteran coach admitted that it wasn’t her favorite position, but remained supremely confident in her defending Class 6A state champions.

Her faith was rewarded when Marion erased that deficit to win the opening set 25-22, before completing the sweep with wins of 25-17 and 28-26 in the final of the inaugural Class 6A-East district tournament final. Marion will now the number 1 seed in this week’s Class 6A state tournament, which will be held at Lake Hamilton High School, in Pearcy, Arkansas.

“I’m super happy and proud. I’m really proud of how we battled back at times today,” said Beasley, who’s in her 21st season at Marion. “I mean, I’m not gonna lie and say that I wasn’t nervous at times, but I always just feel like this group wasn’t going to be denied on their home floor, at their last home match. I just think that it meant too much to them to win it and that’s what they did.”

This week’s state tournament will mark the third straight season in which Marion will be a top seed in the bracket. In the previous two instances, the Lady Pats reached the state final in Hot Springs, losing to Russellville in 2014, before capturing their third volleyball crown in 2015.

It was also Marion’s (31-3 overall, 17-1 6A/5A-East) eighth consecutive win against Jonesboro, dating back to a loss in October of 2013. That run marks seven straight league wins, and one at ASU Playday.

Despite that success, Jonesboro looked to be the aggressor on Saturday. The Lady Golden Hurricane stole leads of 3-0, 7-1 and 11-3, which forced an early Marion timeout.

That stoppage helped spark a Lady Pat run that saw them eventually tie the match at 12-all.

In that run, senior Annalee Parker (2 aces, 10 kills and 12 digs) posted a pair of kills and a block stuff at the net, while classmate Gabi Catt (1 ace, 6 kills, 13 assists and 6 digs) served an ace and two kills.

Jonesboro surged back in front with four straight points, but when Ally Bramucci (8 kills, teamhigh 22 assists and 2 digs) collected a free ball and killed it, her team earned the serve back and Parker handed out aces on three straight points to get even once again.

The set would later be tied at 19, 20 and 21-all before senior Sara Betts (teamhigh 14 kills, 6 digs) posted kills on consecutive plays before junior Destiny King (4 kills) got Marion to 24 and a Jonesboro error handed the Lady Pats the first set.

“We just made too many errors. Our passes weren’t clean, our serve/receive was off. We were sending it right back over, just stuff that was unlike us,” Beasley explained. “Once we got that cleaned up finally, then we were able to make a little run.”

That “little run” continued into the second set, as this time, Marion scored the first 7 points of the stanza, thanks to a pair of Betts kills, and blocks by Bramucci and Sarah Burford (4 kills, team-high 15 digs).

From there, Jonesboro was able to mount a 4-0 run, as well as stretch where they got to 3 straight, but Marion always had an answer and they pulled away 25-17 to put Jonesboro one set away from elimination.

The third set started the way the first ended, and the second unfolded.

Marion posted the first 4 points and led 9-3 to force a Jonesboro timeout.

The Lady Pats led by as many as 9 points in that stanza, but Jonesboro chipped away and got within 23-19 to force a Marion timeout.

Jonesboro’s run continued as the visitors tied the set at 24 and 25-all, and Jonesboro actually took a lead at 26-25, putting Marion within a single point of dropping the third set.

However, Burford tied the score on a tip, before a pair of Jonesboro hitting errors gave the match, and the district title to Marion.

The win sent Beasley’s seniors into their final state tournament run not having lost a home match since their were in 8th grade.

Marion will try to defend its Class 6A state title on Wednesday afternoon at Lake Hamilton High School against the winner of the Siloam Springs-Jacksonville winner in the quarterfinal round. If the Lady Pats should win that match, they would advance to the state semifinal on Thursday at 3 p.m.

The Class 6A state final will be held on Saturday, October 29 at 3 p.m.

By Chuck Livingston