Marion volleyball sweeps Paragould

Patriots topple Rams in straight set win

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

PARAGOULD — It's always explosive when Marion and Paragould get together for volleyball, and Tuesday night at Doc Paynter Court was no different.

Fresh off of a 3-2 showing over the weekend at the highly competitive River City Classic in Bartlett, Tennessee, Marion jumped back into league action with a three-set victory (25-22, 25-15, and 2520) at Paragould to improve to 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the 5A East.

The victory sets up an intriguing home matchup on Thursday afternoon as Valley View to town for the first of two league meetings this fall. The Marion-Valley View match will be played inside Fidelity Bank Arena and will be broadcast live and for free on MarionPatriots.com, on the MPAN YouTube channel, and on the MPAN mobile app.

The Patriots rode a balanced attack to victory at Paragould, getting nine kills apiece from Alexa Shinabery and Kendall Brown, while Kennedy Bullins finished with seven.

Maggie Miller led the way with 16 assists and three aces, while Claire Brinkley finished with 13 assists. Abbigale Simmons amassed a team-high 15 digs, followed by 11 apiece from Kaitlyn Austin and Shinabery. Brown and Bullins registered three blocks apiece.

The first set was a classic exhibition between two of the potential playoff teams from the 5A East, and the Pats and Rams split the first 34 points of the game, but Marion finally gained some separation when Miller hit Marlee Williams for a kill, followed by a Bullins kill to give the Pats their largest lead at the time at 19-17 as the Rams called for time.

Paragould worked within one point twice later on, but Marion closed out by taking advantage of a hitting error and a Brown block that gave the visitors a tight three-point victory.

Marion put together one of its

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better showings of the young season in the second set, scoring eight of nine points at one stretch to take an 11-5 lead and force a Ram timeout.

That run was highlighted by kills from Williams, Brown, Shinabery, and a block by Bullins.

The Pats took their first double- digit lead (16-6) when Brinkley found Brown for a kill, and Marion got kills from Shinabery, Williams, and another Brown block late to maintain the 10-point bulge.

A multi-faceted Marion attack emerged in the third set as Miller hit Brown, Austin, and Bullins for kills and a 3-0 Patriot lead. But Paragould responded with the next six points as everyone locked in for a competitive set.

Tied at 11, Marion took off for a spurt that included three kills from Bullins, two from Brown, and a Bullins block, and when Austin served an ace, the Marion lead was 1714 as Paragould called time.

A Shinabery kill preceded a Bullins ace, and following back-to-back kills from Brown, Marion's lead was 2217.

The Rams worked within three points late, but Marion got kills from Williams and Bullins to finish out.

5A EAST RESULTS FROM 9/10

Marion 3, Paragould 0 Valley View 3, W. Memphis 0 Mount. Home 3, Batesville 2 Greene Co. Tech 3, Searcy 0 Nettleton was open.

5A EAST STANDINGS

Marion 4-0 Valley View 3-0 Mountain Home 3-1 Greene Co. Tech 2-1 Nettleton 1-2 Paragould 1-3 Batesville 1-3 Searcy 0-3 W. Memphis 0-3