The Marion High School volleyball team defeated Halstead and lost to Wichita Collegiate and Hillsboro Sept. 6 at the Collegiate invitational.
The 25-22, 22-25, 25-15 victory against the Dragons gave Marion its 11th victory of the season.
Julia Zeiner led the attack with seven kills in the match to go along with a .320 hitting percentage and nine digs.
Lindsay Hett helped out the offense as well with six kills and 10 assists.
Chassidy Carlson had six assists and Whitney Gordon chipped in with four kills.
Head coach Jim Versch was glad to get the victory.
“Sometimes we don’t play as well as we should, but in the end we take care of the one we should.”
Despite losing to the Spartans and Trojans, the Warriors did not go down without a fight.
Playing Collegiate for the third time this season, MHS lost in three games, 16-25, 25-19, 12-25. Game two was the first victory of any kind for the Warriors against the Spartans.
Zeiner played well again with seven kills, seven digs, and two aces.
Hett led the team with six assists.
“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Versch said. “If we get another chance, we can beam them.”
That’s the kind of confidence Versch wants to instill in the team, and if he is successful, he thinks they can go a long way.
“If we are confident, we will go in and take care of business,” he said.
That wasn’t quite the case against Hillsboro, although MHS did lead the Trojans 22-20 in game two, before being outscored 6-2 the rest of the way.
“We just let things get out of hand a little bit,” Versch said.
The head coach is hoping that does not happen this week with the Hillsboro tournament looming Saturday, and a quad Tuesday at Haven.
“Historically, it’s a tough tournament,” he said of Hillsboro.
At Haven, the Warriors will play the Wildcats, as well as Halstead and Lyons, two teams Marion already has beaten this season.
Those matches will be the final tune-up before an Oct. 1 sub-state at Remington.
Five Mid-Central Activities Association teams will be paired up with three Heart of America squads.
Junior varsity
The MHS junior varsity team played host in its new gymnasium Saturday in the Marion tournament.
The Warriors went 4-1 on the day, taking third place.
In pool play Marion defeated Wichita Sunrise 25-6, 25-22, Marion II 25-11, 25-16, and Herington 25-13, 25-19.
In the semis against Remington, the Broncos came out on top 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, to drop MHS in the third-place match.
The Warriors responded with a 25-14, 25-23 victory against Sunrise.
With the way the MCAA sets up their quads, the varsity coach rarely sees the junior varsity play because matches go on simultaneously.
“It was a chance for me to see who should be stepping up and playing varsity soon,” Versch said.
He liked what he saw, especially from sophomore Kathy Goering, who was named to the all-tournament team.
“She played really well,” he said.