Centre finishes fourth
Staff writers
The Marion volleyball team was nearly unbeatable at Saturday’s Spikefest, with the exception of its games against Halstead.
“We played well most of the day,” coach Deanna Thierolf said. “Halstead played very well when they needed to, and dug up everything we were hitting.”
The Warriors entered the tournament as the top seed, defeating Eureka and Canton-Galva in two sets their first two games of pool play.
Marion won the first set of its final pool play game against Halstead 25-21, but lost the next two 25-17 and 26-24.
The Warriors defeated Centre in two sets in the semifinals 25-13 and 25-16, advancing to the finals for a rematch with Halstead.
The rematch was more of the same, Marion winning the first set, but struggling with consistency to win a second.
Thierolf said the team had too many errors at the beginning of runs to score points to win.
“The girls played hard, but they weren’t satisfied with that loss, and that’s OK,” she said. “They will be ready to play them again later down the road.”
Katey Ehrlich and Megan Richmond made the All-Tournament team.
Sept. 17
The Warriors defeated Bennington in their first game at the Trinity triangular at Hutchinson, 26-24 and 25-20. Against Trinity Catholic, the ninth-ranked team in Class 3A, Marion won in three sets.
In the final set, Marion came back from a 22-16 deficit to win 28-26.
“The girls just refused to lose, and they came up with some key digs to turn the game around,” Thierolf said. “There were some long volleys and it was just a fun match to watch.”
Centre High School
The Lady Cougars won their pool Saturday at the Marion Invitational by defeating Lyons, Berean, and Sedgwick. They were defeated by Marion in the semi-finals and by Sedgwick in the consolation game to place fourth.
Six varsity players — Bryanna Svoboda, Cacey Simons, Makenzie Deines, Summer Espinoza, Shelby Makovec, and Brenna Shields — played all 12 games with no substitutions. The toughest two matches were against Sedgwick, both of which were settled in three sets.
Simons was selected for the all-tournament team.
Sept. 17
Centre played two matches Sept. 17 at Solomon. They won both matches in two sets.
Centre’s record after Saturday’s tournament was 10-6.