Home, sweet home

Home, sweet home

Bramucci back as Lady Pats extend home streak

Sports Editor

Upon first glance, the Marion Middle School gymnasium wouldn’t seem as though it would house one of the best home-court advantages in all of Arkansas high school volleyball.

However, it would be difficult to deny that there’s any place that the Marion Lady Patriots would rather play.

Yesterday afternoon against Blytheville, Marion won its 26th home match in a row, with each set being more impressive than the rest as the hosts won 25-8, 25-6, and 25-1 to improve to 6-1 overall and in the 6A-5A-East conference.

“People always seem to ask us why we don’t play in the arena, but the environment is completely different between the two,” said Marion head coach Lisa Beasley. “A lot of our kids want to play volleyball because they come in and they see the gym, they see the banners, they see the boards, they see the trophies. Nearly every coach that we play that comes here always seems to compliment us on our volleyball environment, and it’s just a different deal. That’s why we like it here, because we feed off the crowd and they feed off seeing their friends and stuff.”

Bolstering Marion’s cause was the return of senior Ally Bramucci, who had been sidelined since Tuesday, August 30 in a match against Valley View with ankle injury.

It was almost as though she never left as she took the court early on against the Lady Chickasaws and played well through the first two sets and clinched the win by serving on 25 straight points in the third set to cap the 25-1 win. It was the third time in her varsity career that she had done so, one for each of her seasons with the Lady Pats.

“I was excited to be back,” Bramucci said. “It’s been tough to sit and watch and not be able to do anything.”

It took three points for Bramucci to reinsert herself into the action, when she set classmate Gabi Catt for a kill and an early 2-1 Marion lead in the opening set.

While Bramucci would finish the night with the hot hand, senior Hope Phipps would open with one, as she handed out aces on four of five points to give Marion a 13-4 lead.

Later on, senior Murray State commit Annalee Parker followed a Carly Russell kill with three straight aces and a 19-6 advantage that morphed into the 25-8 lid-lifter.

Bramucci was the first Lady Pat to serve in the second set, and she found a rhythm by serving a pair of aces while setting classmate Sarah Burford for a kill and an early 6-1 lead.

Aces on consecutive points for Phipps pushed Marion ahead 11-3 and back-to-back kills by Parker, followed by Catt aces on two of the next three points got Marion ahead 17-4 before settling for a 25-6 win.

Blytheville scored first in the third set when Marion found the net with a hit ball, but a kill by Sara Betts got Marion even, and gave the ball to Bramucci for the serve.

Marion’s number 5 wasted little time going to work as she handed out 12 aces in the third set alone and the Lady Pats sprinted to that 25-1 advantage that clinched an important home conference win. On Saturday morning, Marion will play at 9 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. against Munford and SBA.

By Chuck Livingston