Can’t knock the hustle

Can’t knock the hustle

Marion wins 30th straight home match

Sports Editor On most nights, Marion head volleyball coach Lisa Beasley is pretty reserved.

Save for the occasional fist pump or high-five for a player leaving the court, you could hardly tell how her team is doing at that particular moment.

During last night’s threeset (25-15, 25-13 and 2518) win against league rival Paragould, Beasley was slightly more animated than usual, inspired by a slew of hustle plays made by her team in front of yet another large crowd at Patriot Volleyball Gym.

“Paragould was playing really hard, they were keeping a lot of balls alive, so in turn, the pressure was on us to keep more plays alive too,” Beasley explained. “I thought we played really well, and a lot of that I think was because we seemed to win a lot of long volleys and plays that we were able to keep alive, and that’s always a momentum boost for us. I thought we blocked better tonight, it was more spot-on, way fewer blocking errors and a pretty sharp game.”

Marion (23-2 overall, 131 6A/5A-East) kept pace in their run for the league title by topping Paragould for the second time this season, after winning on the road in four sets in late August.

Hustle was a key word early on as senior libero Hope Phipps hit the ground to dig a ball out, which led to a hitting error on Paragould that gave the hosts a 4-3 lead early in the first set.

Marion pushed its lead to 15-10 in that set on a Destiny King kill, and that play forced a Paragould timeout.

The Marion run continued following the stoppage as Phipps served a pair of aces, Sarah Burford and Ally Bramucci posted kills and a Lady Rams error extended that advantage to 20-10.

Down the stretch, Betts posted 2 kills and Burford cashed in on a block and an ace for that 25-15 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.

Marion scored five out of six points in the second set to push ahead 9-4. Gabi Catt was the active Lady Pat in that run, scoring on a block and handing out two assists, to King and Annalee Parker, while Betts also dealt an ace.

That lead grew to 19-10 when Betts and Parker posted kills and Burford served another ace, and when Betts threw another kill down off of an assist from Catt, the Lady Pats had doubled up the Lady Rams, 20-10, before winning 25-13. Betts stayed hot in the third set as the senior Arkansas State commit posted kills for the first two scores of the set, and added another one in between kills by Catt and Parker and Marion led 5-1 to force a timeout.

Parker served her second ace of the night and Bramucci posted a kill for a 12-5 Marion lead later on and Betts would again go back-to-back for an 18-8 advantage.

Even ahead 11 points, Marion had one final long volley left in them. It all started when a ball was tipped by King at the net and looked as though it would fall on the floor, except Bramucci tracked it down with her back to the net and kept it alive.

Catt collected the pass and lofted a ball towards the net for a charging Parker, who killed the ball for a 22-10 lead.

King and Bramucci posted kills late to help Marion complete the sweep.

Paragould is coached by former Beasley player Reed Fogleman, whose team is now 10-10 overall and 7-7 in the conference, and they look good to qualify for the state tournament.

“They’re a good team, Reed has done a great job with them so far this year,” Beasley said of her playerturned- coach. “It’s nice to get a win against a team that competes as hard they do.”

It was Marion’s 30th consecutive home victory, dating back to September 5, 2013 in a four-set loss to Jonesboro.

Marion’s junior varsity was also victorious last night, claiming a 26-24 thriller.

Junior Carly Russell posted team-high totals 4 kills and 7 digs, while classmate Claire Moncrief led the Lady Pats with 6 assists and 2 aces.

Autumn Starling posted 2 kills, as did Sarah Thompson. Maggie Aureli served an ace and had a dig, Lillian Fogleman had 4 assists and 3 digs, and Caroline Brinkley posted 2 digs.

Marion stays at home to host West Memphis on Tuesday in the annual “Pink Game” for breast cancer awareness.

Each school will honor a breast cancer survivor before the varsity match.

The 7th-grade match will begin at 4:30 p.m.

By Chuck Livingston