Sports editor
Maybe it was the revenge factor.
After dropping a match in pool play to Little River, the Marion High School volleyball team defeated the Redskins 2-0 Saturday in the championship match of the Centre High School invitational.
“I’m believing in this team as kind of a quiet giant,” MHS head coach Jim Versch said.
The second-year coach said his team’s leaders do their talking with their play, and Saturday that was evident.
The Warriors were 2-1 in pool play, and headed into championship play as a two seed.
They then knocked off one seed Herington in two matches, and then one seed Little River in the championship, 25-16, 25-15.
“We just play match-to-match,” Versch said, “but I told them, ‘don’t be satisfied just making the championship, let’s take it one step farther.’”
They did just that.
Behind all-tournament players Lindsay Hett and Julia Zeiner, the Warriors improved to 6-6 on the season, just one year after finishing 8-23.
“We’re starting to come together,” Versch said.
Juniors Zeiner, Hett, and Kayley Heerey led the way with a combined 83 kills, 46 assists (44 for Hett), 31 aces, and seven solo blocks.
However, they had some help.
Sophomore Chassidy Carlson helped set up the attackers with 32 assists in the tournament, and also recorded nine kills.
Junior Kristen Steinborn contributed seven kills, and freshman Whitney Gordon had 11.
Carlson had a team-high attack percentage of .375 on 16 attempts, and Hett recorded a percentage of .333 on 42 total attacks.
The day started off rough with a 25-22 loss to Centre, but MHS bounced back with victories of 25-19 and 25-18.
Hope was an easy opponent in the second match, losing to MHS 25-7, and 25-6.
The Warriors’ only loss was to Little River, 23-25, 25-18, 20-25.
The team still advanced as a two seed, and quickly dispatched Herington, 25-21, 25-22.
The re-match with Little River was never close, as the Warriors came out firing with two double-digit victories.
Heerey was glad to see the Redskins in the championship match.
“We definitely knew we could beat them,” she said. “We were tired, they were tired, but we’ve been trained well.”
Hillsboro triangular
Before taking the Centre tournament, the Warriors lost two matches in two games each Sept. 9 at Hillsboro.
Hesston won the triangular with a 2-0 record, and Hillsboro was 1-1.
MHS dropped their first match against the Swathers, 25-15, 25-23.
Heerey was the team leader with four kills in the two games, while Zeiner had three, and Hett, Gordon, and Kathy Goering each had two.
Hett led the way with eight assists, and Zeiner had seven digs.
Zeiner had six of the team’s 12 kills in two 25-19 losses to the Trojans.
As a team the Warriors attacked at a .143 percentage.