East Marion’s volleyball team followed its 22-2 campaign in 2017 with a pair of sweeps in the Columbia Classic to kick off the season but was brought back to earth at Oak Grove Aug. 7.
The Warriors harassed the Eagles early with a 25-7 first-set win, held off East Marion 25-23 in the second and slammed the door shut in the third with a 25-13 win to secure the sweep.
“I think our girls were worried about the building and the big screen they have there, and that first set we just watched that screen the whole time,” head coach Mandell Echols said. “That second set they settled down, and the score was 23-23 at one point. Then we messed up on the serve, and the girl at the net was pretty smart and just tipped it over our head. Oak Grove was a pretty solid team.”
East Marion had just six kills and 12 errors on 27 attempts and only two aces in the match, though Tytianna Porter had an impressive 10 blocked shots.
The Eagles were able to brush off the lopsided loss, however, with a 3-1 home win over Sumrall Aug. 9. The Bobcats stole the first set 25-23, but East Marion came back to win the next three convincingly, 25-10, 25-18 and 25-14.
“The first set we came out dragging, and we ended up losing that set. So I put some of the younger girls in, and they stepped up and played. Lia Smith, Kaitlyn Echols, Azariyah Magee and Kaiya Porter stepped up,” coach Echols said. “Tytianna Porter was still solid as she always is, but the younger girls really stepped up and helped us come back to win the next three sets.”
Tytianna Porter was even more than solid, tying her third-highest kill total in her illustrious career with 16 to go along with five aces and three blocks. Destiny Brown paced East Marion with 11 aces, and Hope Cook had six aces and a team-high eight assists.
The Eagles have just four matches remaining before beginning district play Aug. 28 at Columbia, and Echols said they need to show up to each match better prepared.
“We just need to be ready. I don’t know if it’s because we’ve had success the past couple of years, but it’s like they come out thinking ‘We got it,’” he said. “Then we’re not ready for the ball to come over, and it’s like a surprise when it does like we’re not expecting it. If Ty goes up to spike, it’s like we’re automatic in thinking it’s a score. If they block it, we’re not ready to play the ball back. It’s little stuff like that that has been eating us alive.”
The Eagles will be on the road Thursday night at 7 in Hattiesburg at Sacred Heart before heading to Magee at 6 Monday night.
Pictured Above: East Marion's RaQquiya Haynes serves the ball. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
