Patriots sweep Rams

Marion volleyball stays atop 5A East rankings with win over Paragould

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

Anyone concerned about how the Marion volleyball team was going to respond to its first conference loss in almost two seasons got a big clue on Tuesday evening inside 3M Transit Arena.

And just in time for the renewal of the more fierce rivalries in the region.

Hosting league rival Paragould, Marion (19-5-1 overall, 11-1 5A East) got back to its winning formula to turn away the Rams in consecutive sets (25-22, 25-8, and 25-21).

The victory keeps the Patriots all alone in first place in the 5A East race with that 11-1 mark, but Marion travels on Thursday to second-place Valley View, which is 10-2 in league play.

A Blazer victory on Thursday forces a first-place tie for the 5A East lead, and deciding the No. 1 playoff seed could come down to tiebreakers should the schools finish the year tied.

Marion left its mark on Paragould Tuesday evening by serving 10 aces, four apiece from Abby Simmons and Kendall Brown.

Simmons got the Pats started in a big way, serving three aces in a row in the opening set to stake the hosts to a 4-0 lead.

But Paragould settled in from there, fighting to take the lead throughout the opening stanza, including 17-15 in the later stages of the opener.

That’s when Marion scored three points in a row on a Kendall Brown kill, a Maggie Miller kill, and a hitting error that gave the Pats an 18-17 lead and forced a Paragould timeout.

The Ram response was swift, as PHS ripped off five of the next seven points for a 22-20 lead.

However, Marion got even when Marlee Williams threw down a kill on a free ball for a 23-22 lead, and Brown played closer, coming up with a kill and a block to give the Pats a dramatic win in set No. 1.

The momentum carried into the second set and never truly subsided. The Pats scored the first five points of the frame, including kills from Brown and Alexa Shinabery, to force a PHS timeout.

See PATS, page A10