Posted on

Marion fights past Cabot to win regular season finale

Share

Patriots volleyball needs four sets to vanquish Panthers ahead of state tournament play

Marion School District The Marion Patriots fought past a game Cabot Panthers squad last Thursday night at Fidelity Bank Arena to close their season with a flourish.

Marion, the 5A East conference champions, finished 25-1 this season with a sterling 14-0 mark in league play after downing Class 6A Cabot (20-7-1, 11-3) in four sets (25-23, 28-26, 17-25 and 25-23).

Cabot’s victory in the fourth set was just Marion’s sixth dropped set in 2021.

Marion senior Anna Caroline Fesmire tallied 17 assists and 13 kills against Cabot. Daedrianna Cail racked up a team-high 24 kills. Lauryn Keith handed out 16 assists while Madison Keith tallied 24 digs. Kiah Rucker stacked seven kills and Kora Wilson logged five kills and 20 digs. Riley Jackson recorded two kills while Meredith Williams logged one.

Cail, the senior Arkansas-Little Rock commit, recorded five straight kills midway through the first set as Marion claimed a 1412 lead. The seesaw battle raged until the later stages of the set when a pair of Lauryn Keith-to-Fesmire connections gave Marion a 23-22 lead that forced a Cabot timeout. A Rucker kill and another Fesmire kill gave Marion a 25-23 opening-set victory.

Set No. 2 featured eight ties and lead changes.

Madison Keith and Wilson patrolled the back row, saving several Cabot kill attempts in the second set.

Wilson cashed in a Fesmire assist before Cail blocked a Cabot kill attempt and a Lauryn Keith ace gave Marion an 18-14 lead, forcing a Panther stoppage. A Lauryn Keith assist led to a Rucker kill to give Marion the largest lead of the second set (21-16) before Cabot responded by taking advantage of three Marion hitting errors and three blocks to get within 24-22 as Marion called for time.

Two Cabot kills tied the score to force the Pats to burn their final timeout at 24-all.

Cail blocked a shot and deposited a Fesmire assist on Cabot’s side for a 26-25 Marion lead. Marion took advantage of an error and a Rucker block gave Marion a dramatic 28-26 victory in the second set.

But Cabot responded by controlling the third set, the first time Marion dropped a stanza at home this season.

The Panthers scored the first five points and never trailed en route to that 2517 conquest.

Marion erased an early three-point deficit to take a 5-4 lead behind a kill and an ace from Wilson and a pair of Cail kills. When Fesmire set Jackson for a kill, Marion led 7-4 and Cabot burned a timeout.

The Panthers knotted the score at 10 with three straight kills, setting up a frantic finish. Lauryn Keith set Fesmire for a pair of kills as Marion pushed ahead 18-15. Lauryn Keith’s deft passing continued to pay dividends as she found Cail for a pair of kills and a 21-17 lead that forced Cabot’s second timeout.

But Cabot tied the game at 23-all late in the fourth set before an error and a Fesmire kill gave Marion the victory.

Marion opens its run at the Class 5A State tournament Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Fidelity Bank Arena Against the White Hall Bulldogs.

Photo by Londa Hamrick

LAST NEWS
Scroll Up