Marion mauls Russellville

Marion mauls Russellville

Lady Pats qualify for third straight final

Sports Editor PEARCY — This time, they didn’t celebrate in the middle of the floor with the ceremonial dogpile that a lot of teams usually opt for when advancing to a state final.

They didn’t dump a water bucket over the heads of their coaches or run into the stands to take pictures with their friends and family, not immediately, anyway.

Instead, when the Marion Lady Patriots punched their ticket to their third consecutive Class 6A state final with a straight-sets sweep (25-7, 25-14 and 25-17) over their nemesis, Russellville, they huddled up for a moment, broke the meeting with a cheer of “family!” and shook the hands of the Lady Cyclones.

“Anytime you get to go to the final, that’s just an honor,” said Marion head coach Lisa Beasley, who will be appearing in her seventh state final since launching the volleyball program at the school in 1996. “Especially for this group, who have already accomplished so much. For them to be in position to win another championship is amazing. I’m so super proud of them right now, and they deserve to end their careers this way.”

If their celebration at Wolf Arena at Lake Hamilton High School was businesslike, that’s also how you’d describe their second consecutive semifinal win against Russellville. Marion (33-3 overall), hit the floor by scoring the first 10 points of the final four clash, highlighted by 3 kills by senior Sara Betts, 3 from Sarah Burford and an ace and an assist from Ally Bramucci.

Kills from senior Annalee Parker and Destiny King gave Marion its largest lead of the set thus far at 16-4 and when Bramucci posted a kill and a block stuff on back-to-back plays, Marion’s advantage had swelled to 20-4.

Down the stretch, Bramucci handed out another ace, and Betts posted 3 more kills to get Marion to an impressive 25-7 win.

The three-minute break between sets did very little to slow down the Lady Pats as they opened the second set by scoring 5 straight points and 9 of the first 11 to lead 9-2 and force a Russellville timeout.

Marion’s first 3 points came off the hands of Betts, while Burford and Bramucci served aces and Parker had a pair of kills in that opening stretch.

The Lady Pats pushed it to 12-2 following another Burford ace and a kill by Parker and with Marion ahead 18-11, the Lady Pats scored 5 straight as Burford scored on a tip and a kill and Parker scored on a tip, and two kills, one of which came following a free ball that found its way back across the net.

Marion was up 23-14 when senior Hope Phipps got to a rather difficult dig and kept the ball alive, which led to a Betts kill to get to 24-14.

While the match was mostly all Marion through the first two sets, Russellville seemed to circle the wagons a bit in the third stanza.

Senior Gabi Catt set Bramucci for a pair of kills for the first two points and a Betts kill gave Marion a 3-0 lead, but the Lady Cyclones scored 5 straight points, and 8 out of 10 to claim an early 8-5 lead.

That vanished when Parker posted kills on consecutive plays and Betts served an ace as the Lady Pats pushed back ahead 117 to force a Russellville timeout.

That Betts ace was the first of three straight and Parker posted kills on back-toback plays as Marion led 16-7.

Down the stretch, Marion allowed Russellville to score consecutive points only twice, and clinched the win on a Catt block and a Parker kill.

“I thought we came out really well in the first two games and took care of business,” said Beasley. “Third one, I think we got a little relaxed, got a little sloppy for a play or two.”

Marion will play Jonesboro for the fourth time this season on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.

By Chuck Livingston