ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
The Marion volleyball team took two matches from Halstead last Tuesday in Halstead.
The Warriors won the opener, 22-25, 27-25, 25-13.
“I don’t think we were quite as well prepared for Halstead as we should have been,” coach Kara Chisholm said. “They’ve improved a lot since preseason, but we just got off to a slow start.”
Marion was successful on 64 of 73 serves, led by Whitney Wear (22-22), Megan Hudson (15-18) and Sarah Williams (10-11).
“I think our serving is really our team strength,” Chisholm said. “I don’t think we missed very many serves and, with rally scoring, serving is huge.”
Katie Zogelman converted 39 of 46 sets with seven assists and Wear was 23-for-30 with seven assists.
Leann Thomas led the attack with 13 spikes and five kills. Williams was 9-for-13 with three kills and Hudson went 7-for-11 with four kills.
Defensively, the Warriors were led in serve receiving by Thomas (15-17) and Williams (9-11).
“Our service receive and passing has improved tremendously since the start of the season,” Chisholm said.
Amber Richmond led the team in blocks with six. Jill Hannaford was 12-for-12 with digs, Williams was 7-for-7 and Richmond 6-for-6.
“I thought our aggressiveness really put us over the top,” Chisholm said. “We dug up a lot of balls and we hit very well.”
The second match mirrored the first as Marion battled through the first two games before dominating the third and deciding game.
“It took us awhile to get going,” Chisholm said. “Once we did, we were really aggressive.”
Hannaford led the team in serves, going 16 for 17, and Hudson was 12 for 15. As a team, Marion went 57 for 67.
Wear converted 44 of 52 set attempts with eight assists. Marion registered 34 kills, led by Thomas (9), Hudson (7) and Richmond (7).
“Leann played a great match,” Chisholm said of her senior hitter. “She had some awesome hits that got over and she also had some great digs. She was one of our outstanding players on the night.”
Defensively, Thomas also led in service receive at 10 for 11; Hannaford was 7 for 8. Richmond recorded nine solo blocks and four assists.
The Warriors were 53-for-79 in digs, led by Hudson (13-15) and Thomas (10-13).
“We still need to work on our communication on the court,” Chisholm said. “We need to be talking all the time, tell our hitters where they need to go and read the other team.
“We’re working on that and it’s coming. It just takes a little bit of time to understand the concept.”
