Patriots fall to hardhitting Hurricane

Marion volleyball suffers first conference loss to undefeated Jonesboro

Marion School District The Marion Lady Patriots (9-3 overall, 4-1 conference) stayed toeto- toe with the top-ranked Jonesboro Golden Hurricane (8-0, 5-0), but too many Patriot errors kept the Canes’ perfect record intact. Marion’s first conference loss keeps them in a tie with Mountain Home for the second seed in the 5A East.

Jonesboro has still not dropped a set this season, but Marion’s 21 points in the first set tied Mountain Home for the most points in a set against them. Marion Coach Lisa Beasley said they should have won the set if the team had a cleaner game.

“We dug ourselves a hole early and got out of it, but we just made way too many errors,” Beasley said. “(Jonesboro) is a great team with a history of winning, but we make it too difficult on ourselves.

If we could serve well consistently, we’d be deadly.”

Marion and Jonesboro stayed with each other point-for-point at the start of the first set, but a stretch of Marion errors gave the Canes a lead that they would not relinquish. The Pats continued to pressure the Canes, but they held serve for a 25-21 set win.

Jonesboro seemed to find their comfort zone in the second period, setting up textbook kill attempts to seniors Clara Parker and Mikayla Johnson. The pair was able to find holes in the Patriot defense for 2516 and 25-15 set wins to close the game.

“One match doesn’t define a season. We can learn a lot from tonight,” Beasley said. “We can use this as a learning experience and put ourselves in a good position moving forward.

We just need to cut some of the silly mistakes.”

Run Across the Mississippi River in the Big River Crossing Half-Marathon & 5K. It’s time to start training for one of the coolest and most unique races in the area: The Big River Half-Marathon & 5K. This half-marathon is the only one of its kind to allow participants to cross the Arkansas- Tennessee state line via the Big River Crossing. Both races begin at Tom Lee Park, but will take runners in two different directions. The 5K will direct runners through Downtown Memphis, and the half-marathon will bring runners down Riverside Drive, and then over Big River Crossing through the Big River Trail, a 7-mile paved path through the Arkansas floodplains with beautiful riverside views. Sunday, Nov 2, — 5K starts at 8 a.m.; half-marathon starts at 8:30 a.m.