Aces wild

Aces wild

Marion will play for 6A- East district title after win over AWM

Sports Editor Last night’s 6A-East district tournament semifinal match between West Memphis and Marion at Patriot Volleyball Gym did not feature anything out of the ordinary.

Not until it was Marion senior Hope Phipps’ turn to serve midway through the first set, anyway.

With her defending Class 6A state champion Lady Patriots leading 9-5 in the lid-lifter, Marion took over the serve, sending Phipps to the line where the senior libero stayed for the rest of that stanza, and through the first six points of the second set as Marion swept West Memphis (25-5, 25-9 and 25-7) to advance to the 6A-East district final on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Jonesboro. That match will be held at Patriot Volleyball Gym. West Memphis will travel to meet Mountain Home in a match that will determine the number three and number four seeds in this season’s Class 6A state tournament, which will be held at Lake Hamilton High School next week.

Following the match, Marion head coach Lisa Beasley was pleased with her team’s overall effort.

“This was huge for us, because everything is really important right now,” Beasley explained. “Our goal is to get a number one seed from the East, and we can’t do that unless we win this tournament, so that was really huge for us here tonight.”

Marion (30-3 overall, 17-1 6A/5A-East) followed up a regular season that saw them share the league title with Valley View, with a fast district tournament opener against their Crittenden County rivals.

The teams alternated the first six points of the opening set before Marion staked itself to a 9-4 lead following a kill from senior Annalee Parker (3 aces, team-high 8 kills and 8 digs) and a pair of aces. Junior Destiny King (3 kills, 1 assist) also chipped in with a kill during that run.

Once the Lady Pats claimed an 11-5 lead, West Memphis called for time, but that’s when Phipps started digging in from the service line.

The senior would serve 5 aces, and would never relinquish her serving duties until Marion had won the opening set 25-5.

Phipps (team-high 7 aces, 8 digs) would also open up the second set with the ball in her hands and would lead Marion to the first six points of that set before West Memphis gained the serve back.

In all, Marion scored on 23 straight Phipps serves, bridging the first and second sets, to claim a 1-0 lead, and a 6-0 advantage in the middle stanza.

“That’s so difficult in so many ways,” Beasley said of her senior’s service skills. “Hope is someone that has such a strong, tough jump serve, so that’s one thing. In addition to that, having to play defense and not make any mistakes adds something else to it. You have to give West Memphis credit, because they were scrappy and keeping a lot of those balls alive and sending them back, but that’s a good thing for us that we handled those plays and were able to get them back. So, from that perspective, I was pretty happy.”

Following that West Memphis point, Marion posted four straight tallies, highlighted by an Ally Bramucci (6 aces, 5 kills, team-high 15 assists and 3 digs) kill and back-to-back aces before Sara Betts (3 aces, 7 kills, 1 dig) posted a kill off of a Bramucci assist for a 10-1 lead.

Marion would hand out 21 aces on the night, an average of 7 per set. The Lady Pats would clinch that 25-9 win before rushing out of the gates to a 9-0 lead in the third, and deciding set.

That run featured strong play from Bramucci and classmates Sarah Burford (1 ace, 6 kills, team-high 10 digs) and Gabi Catt (1 ace, 5 kills, 12 assists, 3 digs). 3 of Burford’s kills came in that stretch while Catt handed out 3 assists and a block in that same run.

With the win, Marion assured itself of no worse than the number two seed in this season’s state tournament, which means that it will definitely get a bye in the first round at Lake Hamilton.

For West Memphis, they will finish no worse than the number four seed, which would match them up with a number three seed from the Class 6AWest.

Marion will host Jonesboro on Saturday 3 p.m. at Patriot Volleyball Gym.

Photos by Chuck Livingston

Left: AWM’s Anna Nelson (5) chases a ball against Marion last night. Right: Annalee Parker (12) hits over a block for the Patriots. Marion swept the Lady Blue Devils in straight sets Tuesday.

Photo by Chuck Livingston

Destiny King (23) posts a kill against West Memphis.

Photo by Chuck Livingston

Rileigh Smith (21) rises for a tip last night.

By Chuck Livingston