Lady Pats renew Wynne rivalry

Lady Pats renew Wynne rivalry

Streaking Marion moves to 2- 0

Sports Editor While many schools could be considered a rival for the Marion volleyball team, there aren’t any series that run deeper or go back farther than the one with Wynne.

It was against that backdrop that Marion opened the home portion of its 2016 schedule at Marion Middle School Gym last night with a straight-sets victory (25-11, 25-18 and 25-14) against the Lady Yellowjackets in front of a nice-sized crowd.

Marion moved to 2-0 overall, and that record doubled as its 6A/5A-East mark after previously dropping Greene County Tech on Tuesday evening in Paragould.

“I’m happy to get a win anytime that’s possible, and even better when it’s just in three sets,” Marion head coach Lisa Beasley said after the game. “Wynne, to me, is a much-improved team. They have a new coaching staff and they were much better, so anytime you can beat a good team, that’s not a bad thing.”

It was the first conference game against Wynne since the fall of 2005. After that season, Marion moved up to Class 6A, while Wynne stayed in Class 5A. The rivalry was renewed this past summer when the Arkansas Activities Association reconfigured the blended conferences in an attempt to cut back on travel distances for all schools.

Marion volleyball had continued to play Wynne in the non-conference portion of its schedule since the schools were split, but those contests were often very lopsided in favor of the Lady Pats.

In the first set, Marion took an early 9-3 lead to force a Wynne timeout and led by as many as 12 points at 20-8 before the Lady ‘Jackets worked their way back within 20-11 before senior Ally Bramucci found a number of ways to help her team cross the finish line by any means necessary.

With Wynne having reeled off three straight points, Bramucci came up with a kill, followed immediately by serving an ace. Two plays later, Bramucci set classmate Sarah Burford for a kill that doubled as the 25th point for a 1-0 Marion advantage.

The second set was nipand- tuck for a majority of the period as Marion led 15-13, but Wynne had the serve.

However, senior Annalee Parker came up with kills on consecutive points to push her team’s lead to four points, and force a visitors’ timeout.

The stoppage did little to stem the Marion momentum as Parker posted three more kills after the timeout, with Gabi Catt chipping in with two, to get Marion within a set of a 2-0 mark in the early part of the schedule.

While Marion’s high-flying act was the talk of the second set, its defense would have to be considered the difference in the third, and final, slate.

The Lady Pats scored on four blocks in that set alone, en route to that 25-14 win.

Two of those stuff blocks came on back-to-back points early in that stanza as senior Sara Betts re-routed one for a 4-2 lead and Burford did the same just after.

Not long after, Betts served aces on consecutive points, which directly preceded two kills by Parker and one from junior Destiny King, and Marion led 12-6, which forced Wynne to call for time.

Marion led 18-10 when senior Hope Phipps served an ace to force another Wynne timeout and from there, Marion got two kills from Parker and Betts apiece, and one from Burford and Catt to close the door.

“I had to keep telling our team to play to the whistle, because they (Wynne) never quit,” Beasley said. “We’d hit the ball and I guess we thought it was down or the play was over, but they came right back at us. Could we have played better? Absolutely. But, we played well enough to win, and that’s what’s important.”

It was Marion’s 24th straight home win, dating back to September 5, 2013 and a four-set loss to Jonesboro, who won that season’s Class 6A state title.

Overall, Marion has won 13 consecutive matches, dating back to a semifinal loss to Russellville in last season’s Conway Tournament on October 10. It was the Lady Pats’ 14th consecutive conference win, dating back to a fiveset loss to Mountain Home at The Hangar on September 3 of last season. Marion plays three times next week, starting off with a Monday home date with Forrest City. The 7th-grade contest will begin at 5 p.m.

Marion will travel to Jonesboro for a duel between defending state champions on Tuesday night as the Lady Pats play Valley View beginning at 4:30 p.m.

On Thursday, Marion will play at Paragould, and that will also begin at 4:30 p.m. Paragould is coached by Marion graduate Reed Fogleman, who is in her first season as the head coach of the Lady Rams.

By Chuck Livingston