The Marion Middle School volleyball team went into Saturday’s Mid-Central Activities Association meet seeded fifth out of six teams, and walked away with a third-place finish.

The Wildcats took on number two seed Halstead in round one, a team who had beaten them earlier in the season.

Marion lost the first game 25-21, but bounced back to win game two 25-18, and game three, 25-17.

“This was a hug win,” MMS head coach Deanna Thierolf said.

Things started off well in match two against Hillsboro, as the Wildcats won the first game 25-19.

However, the Trojans bounced back with two victories to take the match.

Number one Collegiate was next for MMS, as the Spartans downed the Wildcats 25-16, 25-12.

The Wildcats evened their record at 2-2 on the day with a 25-22, 25-23 victory against Smoky Valley, taking third place.

“The girls played as a team all day,” Thierolf said. “They just played really hard.”

The team finished its season with a 5-6 record.

“Chelsea Voth and Katey Ehrlich did a super job setting up our hitters all day,” Thierolf said. “Brianna Hall had a great day at the net blocking and hitting.”

Also contributing to the team’s success according to Thierolf were JayDee Schafers, Montana Percell, Megan Richmond, and Balee Shiplet.

“Big servers [Saturday] were Hall, Richmond, Kaelyn Theirolf, Ehrlich and Schafers,” Coach Thierolf said.