Patriot volleyball wins share 5A East title

By CHUCK LIVINGSTON

Marion School District

SEARCY — The Marion volleyball team hit the court on Thursday afternoon in control of its own destiny for one crucial benchmark this season and in need of help for another.

The Patriots topped Searcy in four sets (21-25, 25-14, 2512, 26-24) at Lion Arena to finish the 2024 regular season to clinch a share of this year’s 5A East conference title, the Pats’ third league crown in four seasons.

The 13th conference title in Marion’s volleyball history helped the Pats finish 23-7 overall this season and 14-2 in 5A East play.

Unfortunately, Valley View’s four-set victory at Greene County Tech gave the Blazers the No. 1 playoff seed in this season’s Class 5A state tournament in Van Buren, and Marion will enter the bracket as the No. 2 playoff seed and will open its tournament run at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening at Van Buren against the host school.You can watch the Van Buren first-round contest for free on MarionPatriots.com, on the MPAN YouTube channel, or on the MPAN mobile app.

But the Patriots struggled to start at Searcy, as the Lions scored the first three points of the first set, and the hosts led by as many as five points twice.

Marion got within two points late in the frame, but Searcy outscored the Patriots by four to shock the visitors.

The Pats got going in the second stanza, scoring the first five points before Sheridan called for time.

Kendall Brown started the run with a block at the net before Abby Simmons served an ace, and a Maggie Miller kill gave Marion a 4-0 lead.

An Alexa Shinabery kill off a free ball capped the Marion run at 6-0, and the Pats pushed ahead 14-6 following a Miller ace, and Marion’s first double- digit lead (22-12) on a Searcy hitting error and the Pats coasted out to an 11-point win in the second period.

Marion again hit Searcy with a long run to open the third set, getting two kills from Brown, and one apiece from Shinabery and Claire Brinkley, who also served a pair of aces in the run, the second of which gave the Pats a 7-1 advantage.

A Brown block gave Marion its first double-digit lead (18-8), and she added two more late kills to help Marion to a 13-point win in the third.

Set No. 4 started with a 3-0 Marion run with a pair of Brinkley kills off Miller passes, and when Taylor Chamness served an ace to give her team an 11-6 lead, Searcy called for time.

That’s when the Lions began to rally, finally tying the set at 24 apiece before Marion topped the Lions when Miller and Brinkley hit Brown for the final two points.

What’s next?

Marion (23-7 overall), the No. 2 seed from the 5A East, will open its run at the Class 5A state volleyball tournament at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening at Van Buren High School against the Van Buren Pointers. Should Marion beat Van Buren, the Patriots would play at at 7 p.m. again on Wednesday, October 30 against the Benton-Jacksonville winner. If the Pats advance to the state semifinals, they would play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 31.

5A East final standings

Marion 14-2 Valley View 14-2 Mountain Home 11-5 Greene Co. Tech 10-6 Batesville 9-7 Nettleton 5-11 Paragould 5-11 W. Memphis 3-13 Searcy 0-16

State tournament firstround matches

Shiloh Christian-Mountain Home Valley View-Greenwood Farmington-Greene County Tech Marion-Van Buren

Marion senior Carley Key (27) serves against West Memphis during her team’s victory last week.

Photo by Eryn Edwards